The Different County
by Annabelle Mikaelson
Summary: Ryan Atwood is transgender. She comes to Newport with a chance to be herself. Along the way she finds new friends and even helps the Cohens by helping Seth through her own gender transition.
1. The Pilot

Being like this isn't easy. No one really knows about it. My brother knows, but that's really it. I went out a few times, but no one really knew about it. I wasn't out now. I didn't look that different. He was teaching me how to steal a car, even though I wasn't sure if that I would ever need to steal a car.

"I'm your brother. I have to look out for you." He said. Maybe it was his way of getting me out of the house because it meant that I wouldn't have to be at home with my verbally abusive mother and her physically abusive deadbeat boyfriend.

We got into the car but we only made it about 500 feet before the cops showed up. I was beginning to wonder if staying home was the better option. No, but the better option would have been not being at home and not being with Trey either. Maybe I could be at the mall buying clothes.

Some short but undeterminable amount of time later, I was told that I had an attorney. That was not something that I was expecting. At that table was a dark-haired man with bushy eyebrows.

"Ryan Atwood." He greeted me. I wasn't the biggest fan of that name. "I'm Sandy Cohen. I'll be your attorney."

"Where's my brother?" I asked. As the only family member who gave a damn about me, I needed to know where he was.

"Trey's over 18, got a few charges, and they found and a gun some pot on him. He's looking at 3-5" Sandy replied. "I'm more interested in you. I can get brought down to a misdemeanor, say you were coerced and get you probation. I know life has given you a bad hand, but I've seen you test scores, you could be a good student if you actually went to school."

"Great, an inspirational speaker…" I muttered. He didn't understand what it was really like to be me.

"You know if you ever need a hand, you can give me a call." He said as he gave me a card and we went outside. It was at that point that my mother drove up, very erratically I might add.

"Damn it, Ryan." She remarked. I did not like this woman. I wondered if there was a mother store I could return her to because she seemed to be defective. Okay, that was a little mean. I was glad that I didn't say that out loud. "I've got a family of crooks."

"Mrs. Atwood, I'm Sandy Cohen. Ryan's attorney." The man introduced as he held out his hand. She didn't take it.

"You should have let him rot in there like his brother and his father." She stated.

"Here's my card if you ever want someone to talk to." Mr. Cohen replied.

"Let's go Ryan." She said. I took the card and headed off with my mother.

When I got home, it didn't take long for a fight to break out between me and AJ. He hit me and I hit him with a bottle. She threatened to call the cops, so I took my bite and headed out. I had enough money for a payphone. I was probably the only teenager without a cellphone. I decided to give it a shot. I didn't think it would be permanent, but maybe it could be long enough so I would finally get a chance to be myself. I attached my bike to the top of his car and we began to drive. I would be staying with him at least for a few days. I was pretty sure that he noticed something.

"Are you okay over there?" He asked. I needed to say it. I wouldn't get anywhere if I didn't say it.

"I'm transgender." I declared. He was silent for a few seconds. "I mean I'm a girl."

"I see." He declared. "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Do you think we can stop somewhere so I can get some new clothes?" I requested.

He pulled off at the exit just outside of Anaheim. There was a strip mall with a clothing store and a few other things. He handed me a credit card.

"I'll just wait out here." He replied. He was a little bit trusting. I could have found a way out and stolen his card, but that wouldn't be smart and he knew I was smart.

I headed inside the store. I was kind of short for my age and I was actually glad about it. I didn't want to be too tall because it made it easier to fit in. I figured that one outfit would be enough for now, along with a nightgown and some extensions and makeup. I could tell that Mr. Cohen barely recognized me when I came out wearing the dress with a lace spaghetti strap bodice and blue skirt with pink roses on it with a tan belt and beige boots.

"So, I thought your kind of lawyer didn't make money." I remarked. His car was pretty nice too. I had been practicing a more feminine voice.

"We don't, but my wife does." He stated. I couldn't help but wonder what his wife did.

The drive was kind of long. I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing traveling all the way to Chino for work. We eventually ended up in a gated community. I never thought I would be in one.

"So, I'm going to go to talk to Mrs. and I'll be right back." He said before he looked at the keys and took them out.

"My brother steals cars, not me." I declared. He then put the keys back in the car and walked in the house. He probably should have taken them in, but I had a feeling he would be coming back out.

I stepped outside of the car because I was bored and I couldn't happen to notice a cute brunette standing outside the house next door.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"Hey." She reciprocated as I walked over closer to her. "Who are you?"

"I'm…" I replied before I struggled to come up with a name. I hadn't thought far ahead because I didn't talk to people when I went out. "Rhiannon."

"Kaitlin." She said. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Honestly. I stole a car. Well my brother did. I got arrested and now I'm staying with Mr. Cohen, who's my lawyer." I explained. She looked at me, seemingly determining whether or not she wanted to believe me or not.

"So, you're that cousin from Boston right?" She asked.

"Yeah." I lied. At that point, Mr. Cohen came back out.

"Hello, Kaitlin." He remarked.

"Hey, Mr. Cohen." Kaitlin replied. "I was just talking to your niece."

"Niece? Oh right, my beautiful niece all the way from Seattle." He stated. Kaitlin tilted her head.

"Boston." I corrected. If I was going to lie, I needed to make sure the story was straight.

"Right. Don't mind me. Just getting old." He said with a chuckle. Neither of us laughed. "So, Kaitlin, we're really excited for your sister's fashion show tomorrow night."

"You are? Because I'm not." Kaitlin declared.

"We're not either." He admitted.

"Well maybe you should come," Kaitlin invited, obviously looking at me. "Maybe it'll suck less."

I then went with Mr. Cohen. He took me into the house and then outside near their pool.

"So, call me Rhiannon." I told him. We then inside this building near the pool. There was a blonde woman inside and a mattress on the floor. "Hi."

"This is the lady of the house, Kirsten." He replied.

"Welcome to our home." She replied with a fake smile. I had a feeling that she didn't want me there. It couldn't be easy when your husband says he was going to let his client stay over. I wondered if he told her I was transgender. I supposed he had the right to as long as he didn't tell anyone else.

I put on the black nightgown that I had bought and went to sleep.

In the morning, I walked out of the pool house and looked around and saw an amazing view. I then walked into the house to get some food. I saw a guy with dark, curly hair playing some video games. I assumed he was their son, they forgot to mention.

"Hi." I greeted him.

"Hey." He said before looking at me, then at the TV, then back at me. "Do you wanna play?"

We were playing some kind of ninja fighting game. I was at a disadvantage because I didn't know how long he had been playing. I also got some cereal.

"Oh what happened to your head." He gloated. "You can't fight without a head."

At that point, Sandy walked in wearing a wetsuit. Apparently, he liked to surf.

"I see you two have met." He said. I nodded. "Seth, what are you doing inside on such a beautiful day. Your should be showing around Rhiannon around."

Well, it was California and pretty much every day was beautiful.

"Yeah, because there's so much to do around here." Seth quipped. "What do you want to do?"

"Why don't you show me something you like to do." I suggested.

I turned out Seth liked to sail. He took me on his boat: The Summer Breeze. I found out that his parents hadn't told him anything about me other than I was a client.

"I can make it to Tahiti in 44 days." He declared. What would he even do there?

"It sounds like you would get lonely." I commented. I wouldn't want to go anywhere by myself for that long.

"I'll have Summer with me." He replied. Was he talking about his boat?

"I know you'll have your boat." I responded.

"No, I mean Summer, the girl I named the boat after." He explained.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" I asked.

"I've actually never talked to her." He admitted. That was awkward. A few minutes later, we returned to shore where we were met once again by Sandy. He looked like he was done surfing.

"So, I think we should go to the fashion show around 7:00." He suggested.

"Have fun." Seth retorted.

"Come on, Seth, it's a new year." Sandy urged.

"It's still same kids, Dad." Seth argued. "Why do they need a fashion show? Every day's a fashion show for them."

"Well Rhiannon has to go. Kaitlin invited her," Sandy explained. I blushed a little.

"Kaitlin invited you?" Seth asked looking at me. "I have lived next to her my whole life and I've never even been invited to a birthday party. You know her dad almost married my mom."

"They didn't almost get married." Sandy replied.

"Maybe Summer will be there." I suggested. I didn't have a clue if she would since I didn't really know anything about her.

"She is Marissa's best friend." Seth mused. That was a lucky coincidence. Marissa was Kaitlin's sister. "So, 7:00?"

"7:00." Sandy confirmed.

"7:00." I added.

Unfortunately, when we returned, I figured out it was a formal event. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a dress from Kirsten. It was red and didn't show any cleavage which was good considering I didn't have any. I was having a little trouble with the zipper though.

"Let me help you." Sandy offered as he zipped me up. "Bet it beats a jumpsuit."

Suddenly, I knew where Seth got his wit from.

"So, you met Seth. What do you think of him?" He asked.

"He's cool." I replied.

We then headed to the fashion show.

"Welcome to the dark side." Seth whispered. We then broke away from Sandy and Kirsten. "Hey there's Summer. Don't look at her."

I looked across the other side of the room and saw a short brunette with a taller blonde. I assumed the blonde was Marissa. She looked kind of like Kaitlin.

I decided to go find Kaitlin and talk to her. She was wearing an off-shoulder black long-sleeved dress with a matching choker. I was getting good at identifying clothes.

"You made it." She declared.

"I made it." I confirmed. "Does it suck less now that I'm here?"

"It would if not for the fact that Marissa is making me go up there because one of the other girls got sick." She explained.

"That sounds like it sucks." I commented.

"Would you like to go up there with me?" She asked. I began to think about it. It could be fun, but then I realized that I would have to change in front of the other girls.

"I think I'll pass." I declared.

I then went to find Seth, realizing that we should probably take a seat. I found him…at the kids' table.

"You know this is the kids' table, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes. Chester and I were having a conversation about sailing." Seth replied. I thought he just couldn't find anywhere else to sit. At that time, the show started and Marissa gave a speech thanking everyone for coming and saying that the proceeds went to the battered women's shelter.

The show was okay. There were a lot of dresses that I wished I could wear. I even saw Summer wink at me from the catwalk.

After the show was over, I went to the bathroom. On the way out, I was found by Summer.

"Hi, I'm Summer." She greeted me with a blush. "So, my friend Holly is having a party to celebrate all of the charity work that we just put in. You should come."

I didn't know how wearing dresses counted as charity, but it had been a while since I went to a party, so I decided that I could.

I decided to find Seth and tell him.

"Hey, we should go to that party. Summer just invited me." I explained.

"How do you keep getting invited to stuff?" He asked in disbelief. I was pretty sure it was because I looked like a pretty girl. All of those makeup videos that I had been watching were helping.

We hitched a ride with a few other people to the party. It was at a beach house. We walked inside and I saw half-naked girls, beer, and all kinds of drugs on the table.

"Now this is the dark side," I whispered. I was kind of surprised that a place like Newport Beach had parties like that. I then realized that because everyone was so rich, they could afford the good drugs. I had never done drugs myself and I wasn't looking to start. I also wasn't looking to get drunk. It was then that Marissa walked over to me. She had changed out of her dress and into a striped tank top and shorts.

"Hey, we never got a chance to meet." She declared as she held out her hand. "I'm Marissa and you are?"

"Rhiannon." I replied as I shook her hand.

"So what do you think of Newport?" She questioned. I looked around and I was kind of shocked by the state of the party. Another reason, I couldn't do drugs or couldn't get drunk was because I was on probation.

"I think I could get into less trouble where I'm from." I replied.

"So where exactly is that?" She questioned.

"Hey Coop, it's your turn to deal." One of the girls at the card table replied. One of them was topless and I quickly figured out that they were playing strip poker. I quickly looked away so nothing would happen.

"You have no idea." Marissa declared before she headed back to the table.

I decided that I should find Seth because something told me that he had never been to a party like this and likely had never had anything to drink before.

However, before I found him, I was found by Summer. She was wearing a bikini top and miniskirt and looked drunk. The fact that she was stumbling added to that theory.

"Look, who I found." She declared as she wobbled and landed her hand on my chest. She seemed to be drunk enough that she didn't notice my complete lack of breasts. She giggled. "Whoops."

I tried to get free, but that happened to be the exact time that Seth showed up.

"Hey Rhiannon." He started before he noticed. "What are you doing? I named my boat after her."

"What?" Summer asked.

"It's not what it looks like." I replied as I broke free of Summer.

"Why don't you just go back to Chino!" Seth shouted. Well that was something that I didn't want him to say. "I'm sure that there's a car there for you to steal."

He then ran off.

"Chino, ew." Summer declared. I decided not to listen to that and followed after him.

I found him on the beach being held upside-down by a group of guys. It didn't look like a comfortable position to be in. I was going to say that he wasn't willingly being held in such a position.

"Hey, Rhiannon. What's up?" He asked.

"Put him down." I ordered. I probably didn't look like I was in a position of authority considering I was only 5'2" and had taken my heels off as soon as I got to the party. Surprisingly the guys dropped him on the ground. It looked like it hurt.

It was then that I noticed a guy wearing a shell necklace. I had seen him before. He drove a Jeep and he was Marissa's boyfriend and he was hanging out with a different girl.

"Are you Marissa's boyfriend?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" He replied.

"Does she know that you've been hanging out with another girl all night?" I retorted. That must have hit a nerve because he shoved me to the ground. He then kicked me while I was on the ground. It really hurt.

"Welcome to the OC, Bitch." He declared. "This is how it's done in Orange County."

The two of us started to limp back to the house. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there.

"Well that was interesting." He commented. It was then that I decided to say it. He deserved to know after what we'd just been through. "That wasn't how I expected to first talk to Summer, but baby steps."

"I'm transgender." I declared. I hoped that he wouldn't hit me, even though I didn't think it would hurt too much.

"Wow, you think of yourself as a girl too?" He asked.

"Yeah, I've been this way since…what do you mean too?" I questioned as I realized what he said.

"Ever since I was 8, I wanted to be a girl." He explained. "I thought I was just weird, but now seeing you and not knowing the difference makes me think that it's possible."

"Hey, need a lift?" Kaitlin interrupted as she pulled up in a car.

"You're not old enough to drive." Seth declared. Did that mean that she was the same age as me?

"Yeah, but someone has to get Marissa's car home." Kaitlin countered. We both got into the car. "So, Chino, huh. I like it. We could use someone different around here."

She drove us back to the pool house and I realized that I needed to continue my conversation with Seth.

"So, you need to tell your parents, but it should probably wait until tomorrow." I suggested.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea." He declared as he laid on the futon and fell asleep.

I then heard a car pull up and went to investigate. I saw Summer and another girl drop an unconscious Marissa off. They couldn't find her keys, so they just left her in the driveway like that. At that time, Kaitlin also came out.

"You've gotta be kidding me." She said. She was acting like it was something that had happened before. "I cannot take her inside like this."

"I can help." I offered.

"I don't want my parents knowing at all." She said. She then looked over the fence. "I know. We can put her in the pool house."

So, the two of us took her to the pool house.

"For what it's worth, I hope you stay around." Kaitlin said before leaving.

In the morning, I woke up and noticed Marissa was gone.

Suddenly, the door swung up and a very upset-looking Kirsten stormed in. Seth didn't exactly help with the matter. It was then that I started to panic. I was going to lose everything. She was going to send me away.

"Okay, so maybe the party was a bad idea, but yesterday was the best day of my life. I finally got to be myself. Please don't make me go back. I'll do anything if you just let me stay." I begged. I was in tears as the severity took me over.

I was surprised by what she did. She hugged me.

"I'm not going to make you go back." She said. "We are going to have to set some ground rules though. You could use someone who cares about you."

So, this is a bit different. There's a few changes that need to be discussed first. First, Rhiannon is a year younger and Kaitlin is two years older. Second there's a different cast than usual. Rhiannon is played Madison Iseman, Kaitlin is played by Chloe Moretz, Summer is played by Sofia Carson, Marissa is played by Bridgit Mendler and Luke is played by Cody Christian. Seth is played by Nat Wolff in this chapter only. All of the adults have the same actors. Please don't forget to review.


	2. The First Step

I headed inside of the house. It looked like there was going to be some kind of punishment for what happened last night. I wondered if I could escape punishment because I didn't know the rules. Plus, I had no idea what would happen at the party. I had a feeling that Seth wouldn't be so lucky. I would feel bad for getting her in trouble. Of course, I hoped that she would use this meeting for something productive. It would be a great opportunity to tell her parents about what was going on because putting it off wouldn't do any good.

"So, let me start by asking if you have anything to say for yourself." Sandy replied. It seemed like he wanted to hear our side of the story. I nudged Seth.

"I wanna be a girl." She declared. She was doing it! She was really doing it! "I want to be a girl like Rhiannon."

"Okay…that wasn't the response that I was expecting." Sandy said. He looked kind of surprised. He should have been surprised. I was surprised when I heard it and I was like her. "Did it have anything to do with what you did last night?"

"No." Seth admitted. We would have to come up with a new name for her…okay I probably wouldn't be involved with that.

"Then you no video games for a week." Sandy declared.

"So, I didn't know there were any sort of rules, so can I get a warning?" I replied. There was also the fact that I didn't have anything to be taken. I didn't even have a phone. I didn't have anything, which included clean clothes. "Also, can I get more clothes?"

"Well I planned on taking you today." Kirsten declared. "It looks like it's going to be more than just the two of us."

"We'll also need to make appointments for the two of you to meet with a therapist." Sandy added.

"Don't you think that seems a little extreme?" Seth asked. "I didn't even have that much alcohol."

I was pretty sure she missed the point of that.

"The therapy would be for gender dysphoria." Sandy explained. "The only way that receive treatment legally is with the approval of a psychiatrist.

"Do we have to do that today?" Seth asked.

"I don't think we can do it today because most of them aren't open on Sundays." Sandy replied. "We'll set something up in the morning."

"We should probably get going soon because the mall is going to get busy when people start getting out of church." Kirsten replied. So, people went to church around here. I wondered if they did or not. Sandy looked kind of Jewish to me.

I decided just to put on my other dress because by now everyone knew that I was from Chino. I had a feeling that word would spread fast. On top of that, there was a chance that I wouldn't even see anyone that I knew considering that I didn't know many people.

"So, we're going to need to talk about names?" Kirsten said on the ride there.

"Well what would you have named me if you knew I was a girl?" Seth asked her. That was an interesting way to ask it, but it was probably also the correct way.

"Well I always said if I had a girl, I want to name her after my mother." Kirsten explained. What was her mother's name? "But I think that a name should be your choice."

"Well my choice is for it to be Rose." The brunette told her. That solved that.

Once we got to the mall, I found that it was very different than most of the malls that I had been to. I hadn't gone to the mall very much. The closest one was in Fullerton and this one had a much different vibe.

"So how would you two like to go to the salon?" Kirsten asked.

"I think I'd rather just focus on clothes." I replied. I liked the way that my extensions looked and they were the kind that I could wash. "Maybe when my hair grows longer, I can do more with it."

"Do you think they could make my hair hang down?" Rose questioned.

"I'm pretty sure they could if they straightened it." Kirsten replied. She then reached into her purse. I wondered if she would let me get one of those. They could be expensive. "Don't worry about the price. Just get what you need."

I went to one of the department stores and began to look around. I had never really shopped in one before. I was a bit overwhelmed. They had so much and I wasn't entirely sure what to get. I saw a little bit how the girls dressed here and it wasn't that much different significantly less slutty. Even at the party, I didn't see any thongs sticking out.

"Rhiannon?" A voice called my name. I knew that voice. I knew I knew that voice. I turned to see Kaitlin was there with Marissa. "You're still here."

"Yeah, and I think that I'm going to be staying." I answered. "The only problem is need more clothes and I've never been in a store this big before."

"We can help you out." Marissa offered. "Also, thanks for letting me stay with you last night. My mom would have killed me if I came in late."

"I told her that she was staying with Holly." Kaitlin added. "So what kind of clothes do you like? Are you preppy? Goth? Sporty?"

"I don't really know." I admitted. "I haven't really had much chance to experiment with styles. "I like how you're dressed."

She was wearing a leather jacket with a black tee and red button-up miniskirt and black boots.

"How about you two pick something out and I'll try it on." I suggested. It would help me a little decide.

So, it turned out that they both decided on different outfits. I decided to go with the one that Kaitlin had chosen first. It consisted of a ruffled off-shoulder blouse with blue pinstripes and a dark blue denim miniskirt. I looked at myself in the mirror, but I couldn't help but notice that something was missing. Stepped out and grabbed a baseball cap and surprisingly they had my team.

"There we go." I explained.

"You like the Diamondbacks?" Kaitlin asked. "I thought I was the only girl in California that liked them."

"When I was growing up, one of the only channels my TV got was Fox Sports Arizona for some reason and I decided to watch the games." I explained. If I could find one, I wanted a poster of Paul Goldschmidt.

"Well you look great." Marissa declared. "But you'll probably going to need more than just that."

Over the next hour, I went through a few different outfits. I couldn't help but wonder how I was going to carry all of them. I also bought a pair of sneakers. Shoes could come later.

"Maybe you should get one of these?" Kaitlin asked as she gestured to the suitcases. Marissa likes to wear buy them whenever she gets a new wardrobe."

"I only did that once." Marissa argued. Their banter made me think of my brother. I knew I wouldn't be able to see him for a while.

"That actually sounds like a good idea." I replied. I was essentially going to be moving in with the Cohens and in case this didn't work out, I would have something to put my clothes in. I was a little bit afraid that things weren't going to work out. Sure, things seemed okay, but that could change if screwed something up. I wasn't going to try to break the law, but what if something happened? "I should probably pay for this stuff and go now."

After I paid, I began to look for Kirsten and Rose. I wished that I had a phone because I didn't have a way to find them. Maybe I could talk to them about getting me put on their plan.

"Attention, Shoppers." An intercom interrupted. "Will Rhiannon Atwood please come to the information desk?"

I supposed that was one way for them to reach me. I headed over to the desk and saw Kirsten, but what really surprised me was Rose. She had her hair down to her chest, probably with some extensions, her face was made up and she was wearing a red and black plaid shirt with black maxi skirt. I realized that she would probably need to learn to shave her legs.

"So we need to go get you a phone." Kirsten remarked.

After about another hour, I walked out of the mall with a new iPhone 8 on T-Mobile.

The following day, I headed to the therapist's office wearing a white peasant tunic and also, for the first time, leggings. They were really comfortable. I didn't understand why people had a problem with girls wearing them.

"Rhiannon Atwood." The receptionist called.

I headed to the back and I met with the doctor. I expected there to be a couch, but there were just chairs. Inside there was a woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She looked a little bit shorter than me.

"Rhiannon, hi." She greeted me. She had an accent, but I couldn't quite place where she was from. "I'm Dr. Vivian Carter and I'll be your therapist. You can call me Dr. Carter or Vivian if you'd like. Before we start, do you have any questions for me?"

"Where are you from?" I blurted out. I then covered my mouth. "Was that rude?"

"No, I get asked it all the time." She answered. "I am from New Zealand. I moved here when I was 18. So now let's talk about you. When did you know that you were a girl?"

"Probably when I was ten. I did like some of the things boys like, like sports and superheroes, but I also liked girl things like _Pretty Little Liars_ and romantic comedies. I would look at the girls and tell myself how I would do anything to be them." I explained.

"Were any of your favorite superheroes female?" She questioned.

"Well, I always liked the female power rangers." I explained. She glanced at me. "I know I don't really like Wonder Woman."

"What about growing up? How was that like? It doesn't have to do with being transgender, just what was your family like?" She inquired.

"To be honest, I kind of hate my family, except for my brother Trey. My dad was barely around even before he got sent to prison." I answered. "My mom is just terrible. I don't want to go back to her. I never told her, but I know she wouldn't understand. I don't want to talk about that. I want to focus on the present because I feel happy now."

"How do you feel about the Cohens?" She asked me.

"I like the Cohens. At first, I thought that Kirsten didn't like me, but I think she's starting to warm up to me. I was surprised that Sandy was willing to open his home to me, but I am so glad that he did. As far as Rose, it's nice to know someone who is like me. I don't want it to go away."

"I know you don't want to talk about the past, but let's talk about this transition. Did you ever dress up as a girl when you were in Chino?" She replied.

"I did." I replied. "It was mostly just around the house when no one was around, but occasionally I would go down to this store and buy whatever I could. I also spent a ton of time trying to get my voice to sound like this. Will I get in trouble if I say that I stole some of the clothes?"

"Well shoplifting is a crime, but I am not a police officer. Sometimes people in your situations will do things outside of the law to make them happy." She responded. "Have you stolen anything since you've come here?"

"No." I answered. "It was only because I didn't have the money, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for the Cohens. So, Sandy said that there was some sort of treatment for this gender dysphoria thing?"

"There is. The first step is called Hormone Replacement Therapy. It involves inserting estrogen into your body, either through injections or pills. It can cause your skin to get softer and more sensitive, can accelerate hair growth and over time with cause you to develop breasts of your own. I usually don't recommend it to patients on their first visit, but I think that you've done enough to warrant it." She told me. "Would you like to do that?"

I smiled and nodded. I couldn't wait to look like other girls. I wanted a pair of boobs and I wanted to not have to wear extensions. It also wanted the other thing that came with being a girl, but it didn't sound like that was something that hormones could do for me.

I got done before Rose did. I noticed that Sandy was in the waiting room.

"So how did it go?" He asked.

"She said that I can start hormone replacement therapy." I replied. "Is there anyway we can do anything with that today?"

"I could see if I'm able to get you a doctor's appointment today." He said. "When was the last time you had a physical?"

"I don't remember." I answered.

"Well we should probably do that too," He added as Rose came out. She talked about the appointment, and it didn't sound like she would be starting HRT. After that, Sandy made a phone call. "So, he can meet with you in an hour. How about you two get lunch and then we can go?"

We went to get lunch on the pier. Apparently, it was a place that teens liked to hang out in Newport. I got confirmation of this when I saw Kaitlin, Marissa, and Summer there. I decided to walk over to them before Rose stopped me.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to talk to them." I explained. "What's the big deal? You should come with me.

"I can't do that. I can't let Summer know about me." She argued.

"Summer doesn't know who you are to begin with." I pointed out. "You can go somewhere else, but people are going to find out about this."

"I guess I'll go over there." She relented before we walked over.

"Hi Rhiannon." Marissa declared before looking at Rose. "Who's this?"

"This is Rose, but you know her as Seth." I explained.

"I'm transgender." Rose added. I thought that was implied.

"Hm she looks good." Summer says.

After lunch, I went to the doctor. I didn't know what to expect since it was the first time that I had been in years.

"Hello, Rhiannon, how are you today?" The doctor asked me. This time it was an older man.

"I'm okay." I replied.

"I'm Dr. Roberts and I'm going to do a few tests." He declared. He checked my breathing and some other things and I seemed to be healthy. "So I couldn't find a lot on you, but it looks like you're due for a few vaccinations."

Those were words that I didn't want to hear. I sighed. I hated needles. Granted, I hadn't had a shot in years, but I still hated needles. It made me want to cry as the needle went into me. I wasn't sure if I could do the injections part of the therapy. I was glad that there was another way to do it. He went over all of the effects and side effects with me and Sandy. I was ready for them. I knew I needed to take them to become a girl. Okay, I was already a girl, but I wanted to look like as much as I possible could. He wrote out a prescription and we took it to the pharmacy and picked it up.

Once I was at the pool house, I took the first pill out of the bottle, put it in my mouth and swallowed it.

So, Seth is now Rose. She's played by Quinn Shephard and Vivian is played by Emma Lahana. This was more just filler before the next chapter resumes the storyline. Please don't forget to review.


	3. The Debut

After a week, I was beginning to get used to staying in the Cohen house. Okay, so I technically wasn't in the house but it was still good, but I was still eating in there. I was basically doing everything except sleeping in there. I wondered if they had talked about that at all. Of course, I basically had my own room in the pool house and I never had to worry about anyone hogging the shower. I wouldn't mind staying in the pool house because I wouldn't have to move all of my clothes from there to inside the house.

I was currently playing video games with Rose. I wasn't sure if she did much else to be honest. I was wearing a white tee and miniskirt and she was wearing a yellow tee that said "Catch Pokémon, not feelings' and a pair of black leggings. One thing that I had gotten from my phone was a game called Pokémon Go, and I was trying to get her into it because it was an excuse to go outside.

She had just beat me again when Sandy and Kirsten walked into the room. They were both dressed up, but they were also both working adults.

"Who died?" Rose asked. That wasn't funny.

"Rose, we need to talk to Rhiannon alone." Sandy declared.

"Okay, but if this is about the rug…" She started. I didn't think it had to do with the rug.

"What's this about a rug?" Kirsten inquired. Yeah, it wasn't about the rug.

"You know what, never mind." Rose declared before she hastily exited the room. At that point, the two adults took a seat on the couch.

"What's going on?" I asked. I was a little nervous. There weren't going to tell me I had to leave, were they?

"We just talked to Child Services and we told them that we want you to stay with us." Sandy replied. "Now we can do this however you want. We can do a full-fledged adoption, or we can not. We would still retain legal responsibility for you even if you don't want the adoption."

I had to think for a moment. Adoption was a big step, but maybe I was ready for it. I would have to change my name, but I already needed to change my first name. I couldn't legally be known as Ryan even though I was like 10 months away from getting a driver's license.

"I want you to adopt me." I declared. I realized that I would probably have to sign some papers for that and they probably didn't want to go back, so I could wait for that.

"Welcome to the family." Sandy said before he gave me a hug and then Rose also gave me a hug. "Rose, you can come in now."

They walked away and Rose came back into the room.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" I asked. I was surprised that she was able to keep it from me.

"I didn't want to jinx anything." She responded with a smile. "But you're a Cohen now. We're almost sisters."

"Well I do need to stay out of trouble." I declared. "That's why if I'm about to do something stupid, I give you the right to drag me away."

Kirsten then took us to the pool house. Now that I knew I was staying, I could redecorate and make it my room.

"You'll bedding and more towels. How's the bed, Rhiannon, is it comfortable?" She asked before Rose flopped on it. She was lucky I didn't have a problem with people in my bed.

"It's comfortable." The brunette answered.

"Thanks, _Rhiannon."_ I quipped. I was trying to put a design for the room in my head.

"We really want you to have privacy, but this is a pool house." Kirsten explained. "It needs some warmth. "You'll need chairs, a desk, and a bookshelf.

"Plus a flatscreen, turntables and a minibar." Rose joked. The only one of those that I needed was a TV.

"And we need to clean all of this out so you can have room for your stuff." Kirsten added. I looked at her. "Right, you don't have any stuff, so we'll have to get you some stuff. You'll probably need more shoes and some other things."

"I can do that." I confirmed.

"And you'll need a white dress for cotillion." She replied.

"What?" I asked. I didn't know what that was.

It seemed like nobody spoke until we got to this place.

"It's the annual debutante ball. It's Newport's biggest party." Kirsten explained after we got out of the car.

"Until whatever happens next week," Rose quipped.

"It's the day where Newport's most accomplished young women make their debut into society." Kirsten added. I hadn't accomplished anything.

"How does that apply to me?" I questioned.

"Or just any excuse to get wasted and throw up over everything." Rose replied.

"Hey, I was a deb." Kirsten remarked, glaring at her daughter. "I made my debut at this very country club."

"The year was…" Rose started before Kirsten cut her off.

"Hey, watch it." Kirsten warned her off.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked.

"You have to go. It's a family tradition," Kirsten explained.

"Hello, dear." A red-haired woman greeted her before they kissed each other's cheeks. I didn't understand that part and I was sure that I never would.

"Hi, Peggy." Kirsten replied. "How's the planning going?"

"It'll be fine." Peggy replied. "The fitting rooms are back here."

"Come on, you two. It'll be fun." Kirsten said as she pulled us to the back. Usually when someone says that, it's not fun.

"Pick whatever you want." A woman instructed me as she led me to the racks. "We have Gucci, Armani, Versace is over there."

I was way out of my depth. I had no idea where to start.

"I'm picking up for Marissa Cooper." A voice interrupted. I looked to see Kaitlin next to her.

"Hey." I greeted the two of them.

"Hey." Marissa reciprocated. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a deb, I guess." I replied. "And I'm gonna be adopted by the Cohens."

"Well I'm assuming you have no idea what you're doing and you'll need some help." Kaitlin replied. Was it really that obvious?

"Hey, Coop. Hey Mini-Coop." Summer greeted us as she and…I think he name was Holly appeared. "These gloves are giving me serious sausage arms."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were going back to Chino." Holly replied. Was that on a rumor mill or something? She looked angry. I decided that I should leave.

"So, Kaitlin, you wanted to help me find a dress…" I said before I grabbed her arm.

"Is everything alright?" Kirsten interrupted.

"I'm going outside." Holly stated before she walked away.

"Marissa, I was going to call you." Kirsten stated. "Since you're lead deb, I wanted to tell you that we have two more debs."

Rose looked a little nervous. I couldn't help but wonder how the people of Newport would react to a transgender deb. Of course, she wouldn't be the only one, but I wasn't planning on telling anyone.

"So, you'll be at rehearsal?" Summer asked.

"Yes." Rose replied. It looked like she was talking to me.

"See you there." Summer purred. She then looked at Marissa and Kaitlin. "We should get going."

"I'd prefer to ride with them," Kaitlin replied before looking at Kaitlin. "If that's okay with you of course."

"Sure." Kirsten replied before Marissa and Summer left.

"Cotillion rocks." Rose said before Kaitlin took me to get a dress.

"Do you know what kind of dress you want to get?" She questioned.

"I have no idea." I admitted. "What kind of dress are you getting?"

"Oh, I'm not a deb." She retorted. "My mom said she doesn't want me to steal Marissa's thunder. She also said I'm not old enough."

"Is there an age limit or something?" I inquired. "I'm the same age as you."

"There's not a limit." She told me.

"So, despite not being a deb, you know what I should get?" I asked.

"That's the benefit of years of Newport parties. Try this one on." She said as she handed me a white gown. There wasn't a lot to it. It was strapless and it looked okay. I went to the stalls to try it on.

Later, Rose and I walked into the house with Kirsten. Sandy was in the kitchen with some wine.

"What are you doing home?" His wife asked.

"Can you girls give us some alone time?" He replied.

"If this is about the vase…" Rose started.

"What vase?" Sandy asked. She had to start ruining things. Rose then said nothing and dragged me out of the room.

I then realized that I should go to the mall to get stuff. Maybe I would be better off going to Best Buy. I still didn't know everything I wanted to put in my room.

"So, I'm not sure if I should go to cotillion." Rose told me.

"Why wouldn't you go?" I challenged.

"Because people know that the Cohens have a son and not a daughter." She pointed out.

"You don't seem like someone who cares about what other people think of you." I remarked.

"Well, I'm not sure if I want to come out to the whole town." She argued.

"Your mom really wants us to go and Summer is going to be there and you'll have a chance to talk to her." I countered. I hoped her obsession with Summer would help shift the tide.

I then headed next door because I needed someone to help me pick out some stuff for my room. I knocked on the door. It was answered by Marissa, who was wearing her dress.

"You're at my house." She commented.

"Yeah, I was looking for Kaitlin." I stated.

"Well, I was just trying this on. Can you zip me up?" She questioned. I wondered why she didn't try it on earlier. She turned around and I saw her perfect bare back. I quickly zipped it up because I was starting to stare. I needed to find Kaitlin.

"Thanks." She replied. "So, you're looking for Kaitlin?"

"Who's looking for me?" Kaitlin interrupted as she came to the door. "Rhiannon."

"Hi. I need to get some shoes and electronics and I was hoping you would come with me." I replied.

"Sure." She declared. It was nice having a friend that I could do things with. "So, do you play Pokémon Go?"

"I'm Level 38." She replied. "What about you?"

"I just started playing." I answered. "I'm Level 10."

"Well what team are you?" She questioned. I just chose it based on the one that I liked the most.

"I'm Valor." She replied. "And so is Rose."

"I'll have to take you two raiding with me sometime." She remarked.

That evening, Rose and I went to rehearsal together.

"So what do we do at this rehearsal?" I asked.

"Just stupid cotillion stuff." Rose answered. "You know bowing, curtsying…"

"D…dancing." I remarked when I walked into the room and saw people moving. "You didn't say there would be dancing."

"That's because I'd be here alone if I had." She remarked.

"I c…can't dance." I stammered.

'I can't dance either, but you let your partner lead you. It's one of the benefits of being a deb." She said.

I wondered if I could convince a guy to do that. However, as soon as I walked over to Marissa, I realized that wouldn't be happening.

"So, we kind of have more debs than white nights." She explained.

"How many more?" Rose asked.

"Just two, but I found someone for you, Rose. He's very sweet." Marissa explained. She then came back and took me to my partner.

"So, I guess it's me and you." Summer told me.

"What are we supposed to do?" I questioned. I couldn't help but wonder if Summer had asked Marissa for that.

"We're supposed to dance." She declared. "Do you know how to waltz?"

"No." I replied. "Before you ask, I don't know anything except for the moonwalk."

"I thought people from low income neighborhoods love dancing." She said.

"I think you've seen too many movies." I stated.

"This is a reason that I wanted to be with you." She remarked. "Look, I help out at my dad's office. I saw you there. I'm here to tell you that I support you and I'm not going to tell anyone. I wouldn't even tell Marissa and she's my best friend. Now put your hand on my shoulder."

I did as she told me.

"So did you really steal a car?" She asked.

"My brother did. I was with him." I answered.

Three hours later, my feet as I walked out with Rose.

"Three hours of dancing." I huffed.

"I feel like I could go three more. So, what was dancing with Summer like?" She replied. Before I could say anything, Marissa came out.

"So how did you two feel about that?" She asked. She then turned to face Rose. "How was dancing with Zach? He didn't say anything, did he?"

"No, and he's cool. He likes comics too." Rose explained. At that point, Holly came over.

"I'm obligated to invite every deb and white night over for a cookout." She declared. I could tell that she didn't seem to want to.

"You didn't do it last year." Rose remarked.

"Yeah, I did." Holly replied with a smile. That was just cold. I didn't understand why people were so mean to Rose, especially before they knew she was transgender.

"Why do I get the feeling that she's planning on killing me?" I asked. I didn't tell Marissa about what happened the last time I was at her house, because just because she was hanging out with Luke didn't mean that she was doing anything with him. I had no proof.

"No, she'll be fine." Marissa said. "You should come."

"Yeah, I'm not going." I replied after Marissa left.

"I don't want to go alone." Rose pointed out.

"Summer will be there." I told her.

"Yeah, I'm still going, but I don't want to go alone. I'm still on the fence about cotillion though." She said. "Listen we're sisters down. Sisters do things for each other. You do this for and somewhere along the line, I'll repay you. I don't know when, but it will be epic."

We went to the party and once again there were bikinis everywhere. At least there were no visible drugs this time. There was also the smell of ribs. I liked ribs, but I didn't think I liked Holly.

"Give me ten minutes to find Summer." She said after we walked inside. At that point, Holly came over to me.

"I see you're making yourself at home." She said icily. She definitely didn't like me. "Can I get you a burger or maybe some ribs."

"Holly, be nice." Marissa said.

"I am being nice. I'm being a good hostess." Holly argued. "I don't see however why this Chino pipsqueak is even here."

I really needed to find Rose so we could leave.

"I'm gonna go." I declared. I could tell I wasn't wanted.

"No, Rhiannon, you don't have to go." Marissa replied.

"She can leave if she wants to." Holly pointed out. I couldn't believe that I agreed with her. She then grabbed me and guided me to the door.

"You're acting like you want to fight, but I'm not going to fight you." I told her.

"What if I do this?" Holly asked before she kicked me in the gut. I hunched over and Marissa scolded her. I then noticed Rose and the two of us left quickly.

"So, I never thought someone else other than me would be getting beaten up so much." She remarked. I glared at her. "Sorry, but you are a Cohen know. Don't worry about the mean girls."

"Maybe that's why you should go to cotillion." I replied.

"It's not the girls I'm worried about." She said. I would have to figure out a way to deal way with Holly.

The next night, I was in my dress and the gloves that came with it. I went to go check on Rose. I found her in her room in normal clothes reading a comic.

"Why aren't you dressed?" I questioned.

"I've weighed the pros and cons and decided that I don't want to go." She replied. "Tell Zach that I'm sorry."

"You think I want to go when Holly's going to be there?" I challenged.

"Holly's family is going to be there. She's not going to do anything." She said before she went back to her comic. At that point, Kirsten came in.

"Why, aren't you dressed yet?" She questioned.

"I'm not going." Rose repeated.

"Your father doesn't want to go, you don't want to go, does anyone in house want to go?" Kirsten seethed.

"I want to go." I pointed out.

The two of us went out to the car. I was glad that I didn't have one of those dresses that didn't fit in the car.

"You know I didn't get a chance to tell you how beautiful you look." Kirsten remarked. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you weren't meant to be a girl."

"I'm still not like those other girls and not just because my biological sex." I pointed out. "I don't fit in and everyone knows it."

"I felt the same way at my cotillion." She said. I looked at her. "So I did have the money and the status, but it still didn't feel right. I didn't feel like I belonged."

When we got to cotillion, the first person that I saw was Kaitlin. She was wearing a gorgeous navy dress and I couldn't help but be in awe. Her matching earrings are also looked really good. I wished that I had some but my ears weren't pierced.

"I see that the prettiest deb has arrived." She declared. I blushed. I couldn't believe that she thought that I was pretty. I then remembered that I needed to find Zach.

I found him in the corner. He was very tall. I was glad that I was wearing heels because he probably had at least a foot on me.

"Hi, Zach." I greeted him.

"Aren't you that girl from Chino?" He asked.

"Yes, but right now I'm here on behalf of Rose. She said that she's not coming and she's sorry. Have you seen Summer?" I asked.

"I have not." He answered. That was odd. I thought she would have been there already. Holly was giving me the evil eye but she probably do anything else.

It was around fifteen minutes before the lineup started and I still couldn't find Summer. I decided that it would be best if I went with Zach. It looked like the show would have to go on without Rose and Summer. Or so I thought.

It was about five minutes before start time that the two of them showed us…together. What had I missed? Had Summer been to the house after I left. I didn't know that she even knew where we lived.

"You're here." I declared.

"Yeah, Summer convinced me to come." Rose explained. "My dad brought us here."

"Why were you at our house?" I asked Summer.

"My dad couldn't take me, so I walked over to Coop's and found that they already left, so I decided to see if anyone was still at your house and I told Rose to suck it up and it was better to make her debut as a girl in style vs. being outed at a terrible time." Summer explained.

At that point, Rose got with Zach. Summer and I were last.

"Rhiannon Atwood, daughter of Sanford and Kirsten Cohen and Summer Roberts, daughter of Neil and Gloria Roberts." The announcer declared. We hadn't had time to change my name yet with all of the cotillion drama.

The dancing went okay. It didn't feel like people were staring at Summer and I. Of course not long after the dance started, there was a distraction.

"You're a thief. You're a fucking thief!" Some guy shouted as he pushed Kaitlin and Marissa's dad onto the dancefloor. The whole room gasped in awe. He then started to strangle him.

Sandy went over to help, but the man punched him. He had gone to far. I went over and punched him. I could throw a good punch despite my small size. That allowed Luke and Zach to subdue him. I looked over to Kaitlin and both she and Marissa looked crushed at what they had just witnessed. Also, what had their father done?

Not long after, the cops showed up. I went over to Sandy and Kirsten.

"I hope I didn't mess anything up." I declared. I was pretty sure that what I did was illegal.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Sandy told me. "You have the right to defend yourself and others from a violent attacker, but if you want to just leave and not talk to the police, you can do that too."

I went outside and found Kaitlin was crying on a bench.

"Can you not say anything about my dad or ask me if I'm okay?" She requested.

"Well, what should I say to you?" I questioned. I wasn't the best at comforting.

"I don't know. Just say something to get my mind off of what just happened in there." She replied.

I then thought of something. It was pretty big, but I knew that I could trust her.

"I'm transgender." I told her.

"Wow, that was not what I was expecting." She replied. "Thanks for telling me, but I never would have guessed that. I just thought you were a late bloomer and hadn't been through puberty yet. I'm glad that you trusted me to tell me your most personal secret. Do you think you can walk me home?"

"Sure." I replied as we left.

Well, Rhiannon told Kaitlin and Summer already knew. Holly is played by Haley Lu Richardson and Zach is played by Cody Kearsley. Please don't forget to review.


	4. The Outsider

Rose and I stood in front of a lobster tank. I wasn't sure why we were standing in front of a lobster tank, but we were. Well, we were at a lobster restaurant, but we didn't need to stand in front of the tank. I also couldn't believe that they had the lobsters out in the open. They could put them in the back because that seemed more human. Or better yet, why did they need live lobsters at all?

"What are we doing?" I asked Rose. It was her idea to do this, but I couldn't figure out why.

"We're learning to respect the enemy before battle." She explained. "Lobster eating is a battle. Is that a new shirt?"

I was wearing a white sweater with rose patterns woven in and a white floral pleated miniskirt with black knee socks.

"Yeah, your mom bought me some more clothes, which she doesn't have to do by the way." I declared. I wasn't sure why I was telling her that because she didn't have control of how her parents spent their money.

About thirty minutes later, we were seated at a table with a few empty lobsters shells in front of us. The place may have been inhuman, but it was also delicious.

"So how are things going with Kaitlin?" She asked.

"What do you mean how are things going? We're friends." I replied. "If you're talking about her dad, I don't know a lot."

I wasn't sure what her dad did, but I was pretty sure it was illegal.

"No, I wasn't talking about her dad." She remarked. "I was talking about how you like Kaitlin. It's a bit strange because people usually prefer Marissa."

"I don't like her as more than a friend." I argued. "Even if I did, I doubt that she would be interested in me. I don't even have a car."

At that time, the waitress returned with the bill.,

"I've got it. I've been doing some extra sailing lessons this week." She remarked as she took out her credit card. I wanted to groan.

"Not you too." I replied as I grabbed my head. "I don't want to keep mooching off of you guys. Your parents are paying for everything."

"They're parents. They work for us." Rose stated.

"They're your parents." I pointed out.

"They're your parents too." She argued. "That's what the adoption papers say. It's not like you have a way to make money anyway."

At that time, a waiter stormed out of the building.

"Well that's an interesting coincidence." I stated. I just had to convince them to hire me even though I was 16. I decided to go talk to the manager. I was pretty sure that he was a pervert because he was looking at my legs, but he agreed to hire me.

"You're gonna get me free lobster." Rose remarked.

The next day, I was getting ready for work. I was wearing a navy tee and black pants. It felt a little tight, but it wasn't to the point where I couldn't wear it. Rose was with me in the pool house.

"So this works out great for me." She said. "Now I'll have plenty of time to do things that I've wanted to do, like start my novel."

"Because you were doing so good before I got here." I quipped.

"The point is I now have nine hours of me time." She replied. "I can learn Chinese and study Metallica."

There wasn't much to study. If she really wanted to study music, so could listen to the Beatles.

"Are you going to be okay without me?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I have experience being by myself." She stated. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before she showed up at the restaurant. I didn't know if it was okay for siblings to show up.

We went into the house and I saw Sandy standing outside of the kitchen. He seemed to be eavesdropping on Kirsten and her lady friends.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Rose asked in concern.

"I'm waiting for them to disperse." He whispered as he hid behind a wall. My briefcase is in there and I need it for work."

"Can you give me a ride?" I questioned as I heard them talking about Jimmy going to jail. I hoped he would be able to get it soon because I didn't want to be late on my first day of work.

When I got to work, I was assigned to a tall brunette named Donna.

"So let me give you the rundown." She declared before she showed me where the trash and plates went, which I probably could have figured out on my own. She also showed me how to deal with drunks.

"How long have you been working here?" I asked.

"Too long." She answered. That really didn't tell me anything. "Everybody here is a freakshow. Welcome to Newport, where things only appear to be casual. Of course, it does have its upsides."

At that point, I saw Summer, Marissa, and Kaitlin walk in. Summer was wearing a bikini top.

"Hi." I greeted them.

"You work here?" Kaitlin asked in disbelief. "I thought you were the same age as me. Do you think that they'll hire me?"

"You could talk to the manager." Donna suggested. "But he is going to be here today."

"How's your dad?" I asked her.

"Not to be interrupt this flirting, but I'm really hungry." Summer declared. I blushed. I was not flirting with her.

"I guess I should take your order." I replied before I started writing things down. There really weren't a lot of things on the menu, so it wasn't that hard to remember. "So do you wanna hang out tonight?"

"I can't." Kaitlin replied. "Marissa and I have to stay home and watch the house."

I supposed they didn't want anyone vandalizing, even though I wasn't sure how be there would help prevent that.

A little bit later in my shift, I couldn't help but notice that Luke came in. I hoped he wouldn't notice me.

"I hate that douche." Donna remarked. "He walks in like he owns the place. I caught him trying to grab my ass before. He comes in like he owns the place. That Abercrombie-wearing jock wouldn't last two minutes in Corona."

"You're from Corona?" I asked in surprise. "I'm from Chino."

"This is a long way from home. That place is no joke." Donna declared. I then noticed Marissa and Luke were talking. I was pretty sure that Summer had dragged Kaitlin to the bathroom. "So, I bet these Newport kids make you sick."

"I don't like to judge people." I remarked before I looked at Kaitlin.

"Okay, you have good taste." Donna replied. I blushed. "I like the surf, the sex, and the tips. I can even show you some real people after work. Just stick close to me, Shorty."

I then noticed Marissa walking out. She forgot her sister. I hoped Summer was going to give her a ride home.

At the end of the day, Donna gave me a share of tips. It would definitely help.

"We usually don't tip trainees, but these tips wouldn't be as good if not for you." She said. "These guys like cute jailbaity as much as they like girls with big tits, though you do have to buy me a beer now?"

I assumed that it was somewhere that wouldn't check IDs.

Donna went to get her jacket and I walked outside where I noticed Rose. I couldn't believe that she had made it through the whole day without coming to see me. I was expecting her hours ago. Maybe she had more to do than I thought she did.

"So, I was in the neighborhood and I checked my watch and saw that you were getting off." She said. I was pretty sure that she was lying. "Maybe we can do something to celebrate your first day on the job.

"I already have plans." I declared before Donna came back.

"You ready to go, Shorty?" She asked.

"This is Donna. She grew up in the town next to mine." I explained. "This is my sister, Rose."

"Sister?" Donna questioned. I hadn't told her about the adoption because it was none of her business. At that time, Rose said something to surprise me.

"Half-sister." She told Donna.

"So there are some people I want you to meet." Donna declared.

"Can she come?" I questioned.

"No, I'm okay. You do your thing." Rose stated. "I'll see you tomorrow.

She looked like she wanted to go, but was too proud to say it.

The next morning, I woke up feeling sore. I hadn't actually done a lot other than drink and I might have made out with someone. I wasn't even sure who. I noticed Rose at the table with a comic. I grabbed some Captain Crunch and poured myself a bowl.

"What are you reading?" I yawned. She just mumbled something.

"So how was last night?" She asked. We then exchanged some one-word sentences.

"You could have come if you wanted." I replied. She could be with some people that didn't know she was transgender. It was nice being able to pass as a girl because then no one would know anything unless I told them.

Later in the day, I wasn't working and Rose and I went to the boardwalk. I couldn't help but notice Kaitlin was wearing a bikini. Maybe I could wear one of those when my boobs came in.

"Hi." I greeted the brunette.

"Hey." She replied. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight. Marissa and I still need to be at home, but you can still be there and maybe we can even make dinner."

"That sounds fun." I remarked. "So, did Marissa really leave you at the restaurant yesterday?"

"She did and I'm pissed at her for it." Kaitlin replied.

"So, I'm thinking about getting a bikini soon." I stated.

"You don't have to do that." She said. "It takes girls time to get used to wearing bikinis and are you sure it would fit?"

"I think it would help me fit in better and I have pretty good control down there. I wasn't going to until I started growing more anyway."

I then went into the Lobster Shack and found out that I had an afternoon shift and needed to be there in an hour. That was something that it would have been nice to know ahead of time. I knew I was new, but then still could have told me last night. I supposed it could have been worse. At least I didn't have to work in the morning.

Later, I was finishing shift when Rose walked in.

"So, how do you feel about the IMAX experience?" She asked as I raised my eyebrow. "This town sucks. I was the best I could do. So do you wanna go or not?"

"I can't. I'm hanging out with Kaitlin tonight." I replied.

"So, you finally asked her on a date." Rose replied.

"It's not a date." I argued. At least, I was pretty sure that it wasn't a date.

"Well if it's not a date, she can come with us," Rose reasoned. Normally that would be good reasoning, but not in this case.

"She and Marissa can't leave in case someone tries to vandalize or steal from their house." I pointed out.

"Oh, right, their dad ruined lives." Rose remembered. "Well, have fun,"

"Hey, Donna, I'm heading out." I told my coworker.

"I cannot believe we survived this. I'm still hungover from last night." Donna replied as she handed me my cut. That made it sound like I was selling drugs.

"Hey, Donna, I got an extra ticket to IMAX if you're interested." Rose offered.

"What are you 8? I have a better idea. There's a house party tonight with crazy honeys." Donna explained. "Do you wanna come?"

"Is that cool?" Rose asked her.

"Of course it is." Donna replied. "Just let me get changed."

She then walked away. I then knew I had to talk to her about Donna.

"Rose, she's from a shady neighborhood. I don't know if you can handle that." I told my new sister. "Not to mention, she doesn't really like kids like you."

"So, I'll drive there and park my mom's Range Rover up the street." She replied. "Look, maybe I can hang out with Donna some and we can all be friends and we can all hang out together some time."

I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be friends with her.

"You two coming?" Donna asked as she came out in a skimpy dress.

"We'll go for an hour." I told Rose. I knew it was a bad idea. I texted Kaitlin to tell her I was going to be late.

So, we went to the party. The first thing that I heard was Drake. I really wished that he would just go away. At least The Black-Eyed Peas sounded like they were having a good time. Drake just sound miserable.

If I didn't have experience with parties like this, I would be scared. I was still kind of scared. Rose apparently thought it was the coolest thing ever.

"She's a good dancer." Rose remarked as I noticed one of the girls from last night stripping on a table.

"Yo Chino Girl." Donna called. I hoped that wouldn't become a think. "I want you to meet some of my boys."

I couldn't help but wonder in what way they were her boys.

"We should take her back to the pool house." Rose replied. She couldn't let them know she was rich.

"Don't say pool house." I told her.

A few minutes later, I called Kaitlin.

"So, I kind of got dragged to this party." I explained as Donna rubbed my shoulders, but not in a flirty way. "I just gotta get Rose away from this dancer."

"Dancer?" Kaitlin asked in disbelief.

"It's a very, very long story." I remarked. "I'll be there as soon as I can. See you."

I then went to grab Rose and a few of the girls looked at me with jealousy in their eyes.

"I'm her sister." I replied. I had even changed my name to Cohen.

"Hey, I'm really connecting with this girl." She stated before she started to tell me some of her life story. I just glared at her. "Okay, let's go."

As we were walking out, I couldn't help but hear that someone had crashed a Range Rover. Kirsten was not going to be happy about that. Both of us looked at the car in shock. I texted Kaitlin to let her know I had to cancel.

In the morning, Sandy, Rose and I were looking over the damage to the vehicle and there was a lot of damage to the vehicle

"So, this happened in the parking lot of the IMAX last night?" Sandy asked in disbelief. I wasn't sure why she thought that story would decrease her chance of dying.

"Shark movies bring out a rough crowd." Rose replied.

"Okay. I'll call the insurance, but you're explaining this to your mother tonight." Sandy explained. "I feel sorry for you."

"So, when do you want me to say it?" I questioned.

"Say what?" She questioned. "If it's 'I told you so.', I would prefer you not saying it."

"I'm going to work." I declared. When I got there, I couldn't help but notice Kaitlin in the same uniform as me. She wasn't exactly the person that I wanted to talk to. "Hi. You got the job."

"Yes, but I'm still mad at you." She replied. "If you didn't want to go out with me, you should have said so."

"I didn't even know that you were asking me out on a date, but I really did get sidetracked. Kirsten's car is totaled now." I explained.

"So, you're saying that you would go out with me?" She asked.

"Are you sure that your house is a good place for a first date?" I questioned.

"Good point. We'll do it at your house." She replied. "Tonight and don't try to get out of it. So were you really at a party last night?"

"And I didn't have any fun." I stated.

"Is it hard being a waitress?" She questioned as we went to the back.

"It's really not as hard as I thought it would be." I answered. "I think it has to do with the limited menu. I think the manager only hired us because he thinks we're cute."

"As long as he doesn't do anything, I don't think I'll mind. Any money is good money." She replied.

After dark, Kaitlin was shadowing me. I couldn't believe that they were letting me train her after only two days. Did they really think that I was competent enough to do that?

"So, I went to talk to Kaitlin, but Marissa said that she works here now." Rose stated before she noticed Kaitlin next to me. "Hello, Kaitlin. I'm here to tell you that everything that happened last night was my fault. Please forgive Rhiannon."

"You're a little late with that." I responded.

"You two have already made up. That is good." Rose replied. "Now as an extension of my apology, I'm going to let you two have the house to yourselves tonight."

"Well I'm going to go get ready. I'll see you soon." Kaitlin replied. I would have to figure out what I should wear.

I then noticed that Rose was talking to Donna again. I was really starting to think that the two of them being friends was a bad idea. Rose was too naïve to realize that Donna was someone that she shouldn't be associating with.

"No." I told her.

"You can stop scowling at me." She instructed. "You have a date."

"You're asking for disaster." I pointed out. The last thing that I wanted was to be dragged to another party.

"It's going to be fine." Rose assured. She wasn't that assuring. "Now as I was saying you have a date. Make me proud."

I went home and texted Kaitlin that I needed a few minutes to get changed. I eventually decided on a blue dress with red bandana patterns on it and white cardigan. I told Kaitlin that I was ready and she came over wearing a white tee with a high-waisted pleated black miniskirt and maroon knee socks.

"So, you were right about the job. It wasn't as hard as it looked." She stated. "Now what are we going to eat?"

"I was going to make some burgers." I suggested. "Is that okay with you."

"My mom doesn't like us eating meat." She explained. I frowned before she smiled. "But she's not around."

A few minutes later, I took the burgers off of the Grill.

"So, I've got ketchup, mustard and hot sauce. Do you want anything else?" I questioned.

"No, this is good." She replied. "So, do you think I could get you to make one for Marissa as well. She likes burgers too but never gets to eat them at home."

Sure, I replied before I put the burger on the Grill and we started to eat. She just took it inside of the house.

"Do you wanna get in the pool?" I asked. That stuff about waiting after you eat was really only for swimming laps.

"I didn't know you had a swimsuit." She replied.

"I do and since you know everything, I'm not afraid for you to see me in it." I explained before I went into the pool house. She went home to change into her own.

I wore a pink one-piece with green leaves on it. There wasn't a bulge because I was good at tucking. Kaitlin came over wearing a white bikini top with black palm trees on it and a solid black bottom.

"Wow, you look amazing." She told me.

"Really?" I asked.

"I mean sure you don't have any breasts, but you still look good." She said. "If I didn't know anything, I would just think you hadn't hit puberty yet."

"Well I am going to be starting puberty soon." I said. "Well minus that one thing that girls get."

"Trust me. You don't want that." She said.

At that point, I pushed her into the pool. I then jumped myself.

"You're lucky I like you." She said.

"We need to talk about how you feel about your dad?" I stated.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." She said. "This happened in the middle of cotillion. I don't even know if I'm going to have one if I'm going to have to move or anything. I really just want to enjoy this moment right now."

"I can help you with that." I replied before I went over and kissed her.

At that moment my phone rang. At first I wanted to ignore it, but it kept ringing and I realized that I probably needed to take it. It was Rose. I got out of the pool and answered it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"I think Donna might be crazy." She replied. I already knew that.

"This is kind of a bad time." I replied. I was still wet.

"This is serious." She said. "I need you to take my dad's car and meet me at Holly's."

If I got busted for driving without a license, I was going to be so angry at him. I sighed.

"So, it looks like I'm going to have cut this short." I replied. "Rose just told me that I need to go to Holly's. I think it might be trouble."

"Please be careful." She responded. I dried off quickly and put my dress on over my suit.

As soon as I got there, I noticed Donna was getting into it with Holly. I would need to sever all ties with her.

"I should have known this bitch was a friend of yours." Holly remarked. "How about both of you get out of my house before I call the cops."

"We should really go." Rose replied. I was a little concerned for Holly. Then things escalated when Donna pulled out a gun and pointed it at Holly. People started to run.

"How much do you hate this bitch, Rhiannon?" Donna asked. "How about you, Rose?"

"Well I don't really know her." Rose replied. I knew that I would have to do something. It would be a pretty quick decision. Holly was pleading for her life. I ran over and tackled Donna. It actually worked. I half-expected to fail miserably and fall on my face.

Unfortunately, the gun had gone off. Holly hadn't been hit, but Luke had. Some guys grabbed Donna. Hopefully they would be able to hold her until the cops showed up.

"No one touch the gun." I declared. We didn't need anyone else's fingerprints to get on it.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Summer shouted.

"Stay with me, Luke." I replied. "You're going to be okay. Just stay with me for now."

Once I got to the hospital, I called Kaitlin to tell her what happened. Rose was talking to a cop while I filled Kaitlin in. I already told her that she should tell Marissa.

After I was done, Rose and I headed to the waiting room.

"Don't say it." She warned me. "You were right about her."

"If you want a job, I imagine there will be an opening." I declared.

"I'd rather work on the novel. This would make a good chapter." She told me.

At that point, Marissa showed up she looked particularly worried for someone that she had broken up with.

"He's okay. He's with his parents." I explained.

"Was this girl a friend of yours?" Marissa asked. Why did everyone assume that I was friends with her?

"She was a co-worker." I explained. It was hard to believe that she would keep her job.

"I'm gonna go see him." Marissa declared before she headed up.

"So, I think it would be a good idea for us to stick together because I seem to make stupid decisions when I'm not with you." She replied.

"That's what sisters are for." I replied. We didn't hug, but it still felt good to say.


	5. The Girlfriend

I woke up in the morning to someone waking me up. I looked to see Rose in the doorway. I couldn't help but feel funny. I sat up and looked at her.

"Mom and Dad are…holy crap when did you get boobs?" She asked. I looked down at my chest and sure enough they were there. I even touched them a little and it felt good. I let out a soft moan. I blushed brightly as I noticed that she was still looking at me.

"I guess they came in last night." I yawned. "Why did you wake me up? What are your mom and dad doing?"

"They need help with groceries because my grandpa is coming over today." She replied. "I know Mom told him about me, but I'm still kind of nervous."

"Let's just go help them." I stated. I got out of bed still wearing my pajamas and went to the car.

When Rose said that they needed to unload the car, she wasn't kidding. It was pretty much full of groceries. I didn't see why we needed so many considering that we didn't cook. Even if very little of the stuff needed to be cooked, it still seemed kind of excessive.

"Are you worried that your dad won't love us if we don't feed him enough?" Sandy asked.

"Okay, from this point on, no more sarcasm." Kirsten declared. I was pretty sure that would cause Rose to explode.

"Are you going to say no insulting him as well, because called him a heartless bastard earlier?" Rose replied as we started to grab some bags.

"You sold me out." Sandy replied. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to meeting my new grandfather. I hadn't heard a lot of nice things about him and though I wasn't sure if Kirsten had told him everything about me, I did know that older were less likely to be cool with it.

"So, your grandpa basically owns Newport?" I asked Rose once most of the groceries were put away.

"Yes, and like you, he came from humble beginnings." Rose responded. "I think you two will hit it off."

"Was he adopted by a wealthy family too?" I retorted.

"No." She replied. "Come on. It's not like you burnt down one of his houses. Seriously, he has a brand new girlfriend. You don't have to worry about him. Everything is going to be fine."

"Well you're certainly not how to I remembered you, Seth." An old man who I assumed to be Caleb interrupted.

"It's Rose now." She corrected. "Grandpa, meet your new granddaughter, Rhiannon."

"Well at least you chose a good name." Caleb replied before he grabbed some bags. He appeared to be in good shape. "So, you have to see my pictures from Spain. Promise me you'll see Barcelona while you're still young. How about you be a dear and put those bags out by the Grill.

He was referring to the bags of charcoal. They looked heavy. I couldn't believe he wanted me, the smallest person to lift them. He was lucky I used to work out. It was still a struggle. I went out and happened to see a gorgeous blonde in a blue bikini coming out of the pool. I couldn't help but a strange feeling my new breasts as I stared at her.

"Hi." She greeted me.

"Hey." I replied like an idiot.

"I'm Gabrielle. I'm with Caleb." She stated as she started to dry off. Well my grandpa definitely had excellent taste. I continued to stare at her as Rose came out to the back.

"Holy cow, that could be my new grandma." Rose replied. If they did get married, it would probably be because she was after his money. Gabrielle looked at me flirtatiously. "We should get in the pool."

I changed into my swimsuit and Rose also put hers on. I knew that I might want to get a bikini now that I had breasts. We sat in the hot tub as we watched Gabrielle float on a float.

"Is it twisted that I find my potential grandma really hot?" Rose asked.

"No." I answered simply. Okay, it was weird, but I didn't want to tell her.

"Gabrielle." Caleb called as he came out. She looked at him. "We're going to stay in and catch up."

"I'll stay out here." Gabrielle replied.

As soon as Caleb went inside, I looked to see Gabrielle right in front of me.

"Can I join you girls?" She asked. I wanted to say no because she was too close, but my mouth froze. "It's warm. So, what's up?"

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure why this older woman was talking to two teenagers. Oh wait. We were closer to her age than anyone else.

"So this party for Caleb is like gonna be a who's who of Newport." She remarked. Rose nodded. "It should be wild. I'm being sarcastic."

You know you shouldn't have to say that you're being sarcastic.

"Who are you two bringing?" She inquired. Why was she being so nosy?

"No one." Rose answered for both of us. I wasn't sure if I should ask Kaitlin considering the crowd. It wasn't that I didn't want her there. I just wasn't sure if she would want to be there.

"Surely two hot girls like yourselves can get dates." Gabrielle said. I was pretty sure that neither of us qualified as hot and it was also creepy for her to say that.

"I'm kind of a dork." Rose remarked before I kicked her in the leg. "Her name is Summer."

"Did you invite her?" Gabrielle asked.

"It's not that simple." Rose babbled.

"She can't say yes if you don't ask her." Gabrielle pointed out. She then looked at me. "What about you? Got a boyfriend?"

"You know I just remember I have to go to work to check my schedule." I declared. I wanted to get away from this woman who seemed oddly predatory.

I quickly got dressed and left. I was wearing a simple black tank top and jean shorts. I specifically chose not to wear a bra because I wanted people to know I had breasts. Not to mention, my breasts were still small, so I didn't really need one.

I realized that I probably shouldn't go to the boardwalk alone, so I knocked on Kaitlin's door. I hoped that she was there and didn't have to work.

Thankfully, Kaitlin answered the door. It was then that I noticed Luke's jeep was there. I couldn't help but wonder what Luke was doing there. Kaitlin was wearing a black off-shoulder crop top and a high-waisted pleated white miniskirt.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go the boardwalk with me." I asked.

"Sure." She agreed. "So I heard that your grandpa is in town and he's having a birthday party."

Before I could say anything, Marissa came down with Luke. She gave him a kiss.

"So, I wanted to thank you for taking me to the hospital and calling Marissa." He said. The ambulance took him to the hospital. I just visited him there.

"I was just being a good Samaritan." I explained before I grabbed Kaitlin's hand. "We should go."

We began to walk and it was at that moment that Kaitlin finally noticed something different about me.

"Wait a minute. You're not wearing a bra. You have cleavage. You have boobs!" She nearly shouted.

"I woke up with them this morning." I replied. "I'm kind of excited. I wanna celebrate, even this there isn't much to do. I really feel like a girl right now."

"We could go to karaoke and see if they have any songs that we can sing." She offered.

"No, that wouldn't be pretty." I replied. "So, were you talking to me about my grandpa's party earlier because you want to come?"

"I would like to come if I can go with you." She replied. "Although, I also have a favor that I want to ask you."

"What kind of favor?" I questioned as we arrived on the boardwalk. I hoped it wasn't something involved Marissa.

"I was wondering if I could spend the night at your house tomorrow night." She stated. "My parents are fighting all of the time and I don't want to be around while they're doing it."

"I can if it's okay with Sandy and Kirsten." I replied. "So, I'm pretty that my grandpa's girlfriend was hitting on me. She's hot, but it made me weirdly uncomfortable."

"Well I don't think you're in a position to tell anyone about it." She said. "Just ignore her and she'll give up, but if she touches you, make sure to tell someone."

"You seem to know a lot about this." I commented.

"I have a friend who was molested." She told me.

We decided to go and get some smoothies. I knew that we just needed to sit down and talk.

"So, do you think that your parents are going to get divorced?" I asked.

"I know that they're going to get divorced. It's not a matter of if but when." She explained. "Marissa is still holding out hope that they'll stay together, but it's not going to work out."

"Things could still turn around." I declared.

"You don't need to try to make me feel better. I'm pretty that the main thing that my mom loves about my dad is his money and we're basically going to lose all of that." She stated. "I wonder what it will be like to be poor."

"I don't think that you're going to be poor." I replied. "You don't need to focus on the negatives because it's a lot less fun. I've done that before. Sometimes things just turn around in the most unexpected ways. I mean right now, it's look like getting arrested was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"You know it's hard not to like a girl like you." She remarked. "So, is there something that you can do to make yourself look even more like a girl? I heard there's like a surgery."

"There is, but my therapist says that I should wait." I explained. "She also said that she wants to introduce me and Rose to some more girls like me soon."

"Is that something that you're interested in." Kaitlin asked. It was a complicated subject.

"I don't know." I admitted. "I mean I would like to know some more people like me, but at the same time, I don't know why I have to be friends with other transgender people. I don't want people to think of me as a transgender girl. I just want people to think of me as a girl."

The next day, Rose and I decided to go to the beach together. I decided to do what a lot of the other girls on the pier did and wore a red bikini. It felt a little weird just walking around wearing it. Rose wore a white sleeveless top with black horizontal stripes with a red pleated skirt and a denim jacket tied around her waist.

"So, do you think Gabrielle was acting kind of weird yesterday?" I questioned.

"Other than the fact that she was talking to me, no." Rose answered. Maybe she was so inexperienced with girls that she couldn't tell if she was being harassed. "I do think that maybe I should ask Summer to the party, though."

Once we got to the pier, we couldn't help but notice Summer and Marissa were there. Kaitlin had told me that she was going to catch up on her summer reading at the library and then she had to work.

"Well this is fate." Rose remarked. "We both like burritos."

"We probably should get some food." I stated.

"Am I sweating right now?" Rose asked. I sighed as we began to walk over. Summer then stopped in front of us. "Hi Summer. Rose Cohen."

"I need to talk to you about something over there." Summer said as she took Rose away. That was unexpected. I didn't know why she was leaving me alone with Marissa.

"So are you going to the party with Luke?" I questioned.

"He asked me to." She said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh no reason." I lied. I had a feeling that Luke wasn't being faithful to Marissa, but I couldn't say anything about it because it would make me look jealous and I didn't even like Marissa like that. "I'll see you there."

I did have a bit trouble trying to figure out what dress to wear to the party. I had a feeling that formal dresses were going to become a big part of my life and I might even need to stock up on them."

That night, I was having dinner at home, which also included Caleb and Gabrielle. The Cohens weren't one of rich families with the giant tables. There was still a lot of tension at the table and not just because Gabrielle seemed to be checking me out. I had no clue why.

"You have a quick wit, Rose." Caleb told his granddaughter. I was pretty sure that he was still getting used to that name. "I'm surprised that you're not better at skirt-chasing."

"If by skirts, you mean girls in your outdated cowboy speak, I have news for you." Rose replied. "It turns out that I have a date for your birthday party. It's not a big deal, but Summer asked me."

"Summer's hot." Sandy stated. Now, that was creepy.

"You did not just say that." Rose responded with a bright blush on her face. He may have been surprised to see her with a date.

"What about you Rhiannon?" Gabrielle asked. It seemed like she was hoping that I didn't.

That night, Kaitlin came over the gate. I noticed that she didn't have any pajamas with her.

"Hi." She greeted me. "Thanks for this. Marissa brought Luke over. Now I have to think about them having sex in addition to my parents fighting."

We went inside the pool house and hung out with Rose for a little while before she went to bed.

"So, what do you want to do now?" I asked. We could probably watch a movie or something.

"What do you want to do?" She countered as she crawled on the bed on top of Rose's comics. She then began to rub my leg. I once again felt my nipples harden.

"That feels good." I remarked softly.

She kissed me and I began to kiss her back. I started to put my hands under her shirt before we were interrupted by the sounds of Caleb looking for Gabrielle.

"Maybe we should press pause." I declared. "I think it would be good for us to go to sleep because I'm feeling tired and it is getting pretty late."

The new day, Rose and I were floating in the pool.

"So, are you and Kaitlin dating now?" She asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." I answered. I wasn't sure if we were ready to define it as dating yet. Yeah, we had made out a few times, but that was it. "Your grandpa likes to sail too."

"It's one thing that we have in common." She commented.

"You two need to get out of the pool. The caterers are here. It's time to get ready." Kirsten interrupted.

"So, I want to keep things quiet about this." I remarked. "Don't tell Marissa or your grandpa or anyone about it."

I headed to the pool house and took a shower before I got changed. I wore a blue lace dress knee-length dress with matching heels . I went inside to see that Rose was wearing a turquoise off-shoulder dress with flats and also dark red lipstick.

I was ready for the party, even though I really didn't want to socialize with anyone. I decided to wait for Kaitlin to show up. Eventually, I found her outside by the pool house. She looked really pretty wearing her hot pink pleated dress with pockets.

We went inside the house and immediately we were met by Gabrielle. Why couldn't it have been literally anyone else? I was beginning to think that she was a predator.

"Are you going to introduce us, Rhiannon?" The blonde asked. I didn't want to, but I supposed it was the right thing to do.

"Kaitlin, this is Gabrielle, Caleb's girlfriend." I introduced as the two of them shook hands. Gabrielle began to chew on a cherry sensually. I could see a look of rage in Kaitlin's eyes. "You know we should get something to eat because I am feeling hungry."

"I figured that a catfight breaking out between the two of them wouldn't be good.

"Okay, we need to call Chris Hansen on this woman because she was openly flirting with you in front of all of these people." Kaitlin said.

"Kaitlin, Caleb isn't going to believe either of us." I pointed out. "I'm the girl that his daughter took in and your Jimmy Cooper's daughter, who he already doesn't like for what he did to Kirsten."

All I could really do was hope that Gabrielle would leave soon and Caleb would dump her when he realized that she was a gold digger. I mean she made me feel awful whenever she was around. Maybe it was something that I could talk to Dr. Carter about at my session tomorrow. By then, Gabrielle would be gone and hopefully, I would never have to see her again.

I decided to look around the party, I saw that Luke was being flirty with Marissa and Marissa was flirting with him as well. Rose was with Summer. Summer didn't seem to want much to do with her, but she was probably just happy to be with her in the first place. I hoped Summer wouldn't continuously treat her like that.

"So this party seems kind of lame." Kaitlin remarked. She then stopped in her tracks. "Would is my dad doing here?"

I looked over to see that her mom was arguing with her dad.

"Oh God, get me out of here." She begged. "I don't want to see them fighting anymore. I just want them to get divorced and be done with it."

I took her to the pool house and gave her a hug as she wiped the mascara off of her face. Maybe it was just better for us to be in there. I would be away from Gabrielle and she would be away from her parents' drama.

"I want to keep doing what we were doing the other night." She declared.

We started making out and we once again started to take off each other's clothes. We were both topless when I learned the number rule that you should do before you're about to have sex and that was lock the door.

"What the fuck?" Marissa asked. What was she doing in there. She looked confused. She then ran out and I quickly covered up. Why had she come in there? Did she like me or something and I just hadn't seen it. I quickly zipped my dress back up and ran outside.

I heading to the driveway and I saw Marissa drive off with Luke. I couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't understand what was happening. I didn't understand why I hadn't just locked the door after Marissa had left and stayed in there with Kaitlin. I did want to know why I kept getting interrupted whenever I was kissing her. I needed to get back to Kaitlin. I hoped that she was still in the pool house.

I went upstairs and I noticed that Gabrielle had found me.

"Alright, this is getting ridiculous. I am 15 years old. Leave me alone or I'm going to call the cops." I told her. "Or I'm going to tell Caleb."

I saw that Luke and Marissa were already back. They looked like they had had sex, but how quick did they do it? I knew that I was a virgin, but that didn't seem like it could have been enjoyable for either of them.

I then headed back to the pool house and found Kaitlin. I realized that there was one thing that I wanted to do if we were going to do it.

"I still want to do this is you do." I told her. "Just one thing. I would like to keep my panties on."

So, I decided to make Gabrielle much less sympathetic in this because I found gross on how she treated Ryan. Also Kaitlin and Rhiannon had sex. Please don't forget to review.


	6. The Escape

"The plan in undeniable." Rose told me. She wanted us to go to Tijuana this weekend.

"I'll deny it." I quipped. I personally thought it was a terrible idea.

"We have my mom's Range Rover and a perfect alibi as I go to this convention every year." She explained. I couldn't believe that Kirsten was still letting her drive her car. "We also have my entire life of never doing anything wrong to convince my parents to trust me."

"And why would you want to risk that?" I questioned. "Do you really want to risk your parents' trust for Summer, scantily-clad girls and body shots? How dumb are you?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" She asked. "You don't get it, Rhiannon. On the last weekend before school, one goes to Tijuana. It's tradition."

"It doesn't sound like your tradition." I pointed out.

"What happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico." She replied.

"That's Vegas." I corrected. "Do you even know what happens in Mexico?"

"I want to find out." She replied.

"I don't want to lie to your parents about it." I said. As much as I didn't want to go, I knew that letting her go without me was an even worse idea.

"I can respect, so I will lie to them." She said. I couldn't help but sigh.

"Why can't we just go to Comic Con?" I questioned. It sounded like it would be more enjoyable than scorching temperatures and wild parties where something was found to go wrong.

"Because Comic Con is a bunch of pathetic virgins ogling some porn star dressed as Catwoman." She replied.

"I thought you went every year." I responded with a smile. "Besides, you've never been as a girl. We could wear some sexy costumes and watch some early screenings of movies. It could be fun."

"Listen Tijuana is a big town. You probably won't even see Marissa or Luke?" She stated.

"I don't care about Marissa and Luke." I replied. Though, I was kind of embarrassed that she had seen my boobs.

"Therefore you shouldn't have an excuse not to come." She reasoned.

"You do realize that Summer is going to be too busy with Marissa to hang out with you, don't you?" I questioned.

"She'll probably be too busy screwing Luke to have time for Summer." She replied. I grimaced as those images came to my mind. It was not something I wanted to think about.

"Hey, are you two excited about Comic Con?" Sandy asked as he entered the kitchen. I would be excited if we were actually going. "Rose has been going since she was 10. It's the highlight of her year."

"Highlight is a bit much." Rose replied. She then noticed how he was dressed. "What's with the suit?"

"I've got a meeting with a private law firm today." Sandy explained as he grabbed a bagel.

"Are you suing them?" I questioned. Did defense attorneys sue people?

"I've got a job interview." He said as Kirsten entered the kitchen.

"Which he'll never take." She said. "They like to flatter him every year."

"I go for the free meal?" He explained. Was it really good enough to string them along over?

"But you're still going to be a public defender, aren't you?" I asked in concern.

"After fifteen years, he'd never sell out." Kirsten assured us.

"It'd have to be one hell of a meal." Sandy quipped. "So, how soon are you leaving?"

"That's a good question. When are we leaving, Rhiannon?" Rose asked.

"Tomorrow." I answered as I poured myself a bowl of Apple Jacks. Maybe I should see if I can get some input into the cereal in the house sometime.

"Don't you mean mañana?" Rose asked. I wanted to slap her.

A little later, I was preparing to see my Dr. Carter before I had to work. I had just come out of the shower when Rose put a sombrero on my head. She was not good at subtlety. Plus, she needed to stop stereotyping Mexicans."

"You need to learn Español." She told me as she handed me a Spanish phrasebook.

"May I please see a ladies' worsted bathing suit?" I asked, reading from a random page. Why would anyone ever need to ask that question. "I already know a lot of Spanish. My next door neighbors were originally from Mexico. What's this other thing?"

"An itinerary." She explained.

"This is 12 pages and we're going for two days." I explained before I headed to my appointment. I decided to talk about the first thing that I wanted to talk to her about.

"So I'm just glad that she's gone." I told her.

"What would you do if you saw her again?" She questioned.

"I really don't know. I want to talk about something else." I declared.

"Well what did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to say anything about to my parents?" I replied.

"As long as you're not thinking about hurting yourself or someone else." She replied.

"No, it's not that." I stated. "It's just that Rose wants to go to Tijuana and I don't want to go because I think it's a bad idea."

"Have you told her that?" She inquired.

"I don't think I can talk her out of it. I also think that she would go with or without me, so I should probably go with to make sure that she doesn't get into any trouble." I explained.

"Well you might have a good time." She suggested.

"I think I would have a better time at this Comic Con that we're using as our cover." I told her.

"Is there something positive that you want to talk about?" She questioned.

"Well, I have a girlfriend." I replied. "I even had sex with her the other night."

"In what way?" She responded. I supposed it was a valid question considering how I was. It still wasn't the most comfortable thing to talk about.

"With my tongue." I stammered. "I don't want to do anything else until later probably after surgery whenever that is."

"Well since you're a minor, that's up to your parents. I would personally recommend being on hormones for a year before you start thinking about it." She declared.

After I was done there, I went to work. As soon as I got there, I gave Kaitlin a kiss.

"I don't want to go to Tijuana." I told her. "Rose is making me go."

"Well my mom is taking me to see my grandma." She said. "Do you know anything about emancipation."

"No." I replied.

"Well my dad is moving out this weekend." She responded. "I don't want to be forced to take a side. Marissa doesn't even know."

"At least you know your dad loves you." I remarked.

"It felt good what we did the other night." She replied.

"I'm glad. It's too bad that I can't feel what you felt." I told her.

"You will. It'll just take a while." She assured me.

I then found Rose at the bar. She was staring at Summer.

"She's playing hard to get." She said. "She wants to pretend that she didn't kiss me."

"There were no witnesses. I didn't see it." I pointed out.

I then noticed that she was eavesdropping.

"So, it seems like Marissa is not going and Summer needs a ride." Rose declared. As I was going to the bathroom, I couldn't help but notice that Luke was flirting with Holly. I knew it. I knew that he was cheating on her, but I couldn't say anything about it.

The following day, I was wearing an unbuttoned red, white, and blue plaid shirt with a white crop top underneath and a pair of jean shorts that started just below my bellybutton. I supposed that I was ready to go, even though I still didn't want to. Rose was wearing a sleeveless dress with a black bodice and tartan skirt.

Sandy was basically hovering. I was pretty sure that it was the first time Rose was going anywhere on her own. As we stepped outside, we noticed Summer. Rose was quick to get her bags.

"Hey, Summer. I didn't know you were didn't comics." He replied.

"Comics, ew." Summer replied.

"She goes for the movies." Rose lied. I was still hoping that I could convince her to actually go. Summer would probably have fun too.

"I'm gonna say goodbye to Coop. Don't touch my stuff." Summer remarked,

"This is going to be awesome." Rose remarked.

"She's hot stuff, Rose." Sandy stated.

"And now it's ruined." Rose replied. From what I understood, Marissa wanted to spend time with Jimmy. I wouldn't question it because it would be less awkward without her.

However, it seemed that fate didn't want it that way, because Summer returned with Marissa.

"Vamanos, we're going to TJ!" Summer explained once we were in the car.

"Yay." I deadpanned. I couldn't wait for the car ride to be over and we were just leaving.

I looked outside the window. I didn't really want to talk to Marissa and I didn't want Rose or Summer to know what she had seen.

"We should be there in three hours." Summer declared.

"GPS says three and a half." Rose corrected. It was that I realized that I had forgotten my AirPods.

"That's only for people who drive like old ladies." Summer said.

"I'm going 70 in a 65." Rose pointed out.

"80 is the new 70." Summer retorted. "You just got passed by a van full of nuns, Cohen."

"Well they have God on their side, Summer." Rose replied. I felt like I needed God. "I'm not going to beat Jesus."

"I'm gonna call Holly to see how far ahead of us they are." Summer stated. I didn't know when Holly left. I got a bottle of water out of the cooler and then offered one to Marissa but she declined. "God this is a nightmare. I'm dehydrated, my hair is frizzing out, we're going ten miles an hour and I'm listening to this…music."

"Do not insult Death Cab," Rose ordered. I was starting to think that they would never work as a couple.

"It's just one guitar and a lot of complaining." Summer told her.

"You know who else does a lot of complaining: you Summer." Rose said. "Rhiannon, Marissa, say goodbye to Summer because I'm leaving her on the side of the road."

I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, but Summer didn't think so and then a fight broke out for the wheel and we then off the side of the road and to a ditch. I had a feeling that she wouldn't be driving Kirsten's car ever again after everything that had happened.

We had to go to a motel until the car was repaired.

"Ew." Summer declared as she looked over the room. Ew was right.

"This is only for one night until the axle's fixed." Marissa pointed out.

"I cannot stay here." Summer replied.

"Well unless you feel like hitchhiking again…" I replied. I wondered if Uber would drive from here to San Diego. They probably wouldn't. Comic Con was looking better and better.

"We're lucky that guy stopped for us." Marissa pointed out.

"Well we'd be luckier if Danica Patrick here hadn't driven us off the road." Summer remarked. It was her fault too.

"Can we try to be positive here?" Marissa requested.

"Well I'm positive this is Summer's fault." Rose stated.

"And I'm positive I'm leaving this place with a rash." Summer said. I was positive I wanted to be anywhere else. She then went to the bathroom. "Ew. This bathroom is so…ew."

I decided to call Kaitlin to see how she was doing. I hoped that she was having more fun than I was at the moment.

"Hey. How's Tijuana?" She asked. I had the phone on speaker because I didn't like holding it up to my ear.

"I don't know. We had car trouble. I don't know if I ever want to go anywhere with Rose and Summer ever again." I explained. "I haven't really talked to Marissa at all."

"Well can you please not tell her that my dad is moving out this weekend?" Kaitlin asked.

"What?" Marissa interrupted.

"Is that Marissa?" Kaitlin replied.

"You kind of just told her." I responded. "I gotta go. Bye."

"So, what, you two knew about this and you didn't think to tell me?" She asked me.

"Kaitlin didn't want to tell me." I told her. I really wanted to go home.

"Now, Kaitlin knows what's best for me and you're her little bitch." She declared. Now I was getting angry.

"Look, neither of your parents told Kaitlin. They were probably going to tell you on their own." I defended. "By the way, you could have knocked."

"I was looking for my sister and I didn't expect you to be hooking with her." She remarked.

"Well I was. I like Kaitlin and she likes me and I'm sorry if that's weird for you, but you'll have to deal with it." I replied before I headed back to the room. I hoped that Rose and Summer wouldn't be having angry sex in there, but I doubted they would.

I found them asleep. I got on the other bed and took my shorts off. I didn't feel like getting changed.

In the morning, I was awoken by the sound of the car. Marissa was leaning against me.

"So, looks like the car's fixed. Do you wanna go home?" I asked. I wondered if we could still go to Comic Con.

"I wanna stay here." She replied as she got out of bed. I realized I needed to get dressed. "I think I'm going to take a shower."

As she was showering, I couldn't help but wonder if I should call Kaitlin again. I also couldn't help but wonder where Rose and Summer were. They seemed like they would have a very toxic relationship. Of course, Rose did say Summer kissed her and why would she lie about something like that?

"They came back as I was making the bed. They had coffee.

"Where's Coop?" Summer asked.

"Shower." I answered.

"I hope she's wearing shower shoes." She retorted. Something told me that those weren't something that she would think to bring unless she expect the hotel in Mexico would suck.

"We brought breakfast and the car is fixed. Are you ready to go?" Rose asked.

"I'm not sure that we're going." I explained. "Kaitlin accidentally spilled the beans over the phone that her dad is moving out.

A second later, Marissa came out with wet hair, but fully dressed. Summer hugged her.

"Coop, we'll do whatever you want to do." Summer told her. "But if you want my advice, you do not want to be at home right now. I have been where you are and it is not going to be pretty."

"We could go to Comic Con." I suggested.

"No, this is our last chance for freedom. We need to do something fun." Summer said. Comic Con could be fun. "We'll be back to school soon and it'll be hell. You need an escape."

"I think Summer's right." Rose opined. "I never thought I'd say that."

She glared at her.

"Right rage blackouts. I'll be in the car." Rose replied. Did I miss something?

"Let's go to TJ." Marissa said with a smile.

I still was pretty sure that we were making a mistake. I had an inkling that something was going to go wrong. I had no idea what, but I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be good. This trip hadn't been going well so far and I didn't feel like it was magically going to turn around. Maybe I was just being cynical, but I had a feeling that going to Mexico would be a mistake.

Once we got there, there was a sign in English saying that we could be arrested. That wasn't exactly the best welcome. As long as we didn't do anything illegal, we would probably be fine. We then went to check into our hotel. This time we got separate rooms.

"I don't understand why we needed to get two rooms." Rose remarked. "I'm going to leave you a key in case you get lonely."

"Or in case I want to smother you with your pillow while you're sleeping." Summer quipped.

"So, everyone's probably going to be at Boom Boom." Marissa declared. That was a terrible name for a club. Did the Mexicans really not know what that was a euphemism for?

"Let me run to the pharmacy." Summer said. "You can get pretty much anything you want without a prescription here."

"Rose, I don't think you should get a certain kind of pill. Wait until your doctor says you're ready." I declared.

"I wasn't even thinking about that." Rose responded. Oh. "But I do need to get an antihistamine for my allergies."

"You don't have to come with us if you don't want to." Marissa declared.

"I'd rather not be alone in Mexico." I told her.

"Well as soon as we get there, I'm going to find Luke." She said. I was not sure why she felt the need to tell me that. It wasn't like I liked her or anything.

That night, we went to what appeared to be a clothing-optional club. Fortunately, the nudity was mostly from the girls.

"I love authentic Mexican culture." Rose commented. I was pretty sure that was the part that Mexico wanted to forget about along with the drug cartels. We headed to the bar to get some drinks. I decided to stick with soda because I felt nothing good would come out of getting drunk in Mexico. We decided to go with Marissa as she looked for Luke. We found him alright and he was kissing Holly. Marissa looked like a train was about to hit her and she couldn't move.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Marissa asked. I realized that she wasn't looking at Luke. She was looking at Holly. Was she dating both of them? I did not see that coming.

"What you think you can just date both of us?" Holly asked.

"You're such a douchebag." Summer told Luke.

"You think I'm the only other person she's been with?" Luke challenged. "She's a slut."

"Is that true?" Marissa asked her.

"You know it is." Luke replied. I decided to kick him in the groin to shut him up. Summer then looked at Holly. Marissa ran off.

"Her parents are getting divorced you slut." She told her. Rose tried to drag her away. I knew that I needed to find her because I had a feeling that Kaitlin would be mad at me if I lost her sister in Mexico.

"You need to stay here." I told Holly.

"She shouldn't be alone here." Holly pointed out. I already knew that.

"Well she doesn't want to be with you." I argued. "I'll find her. I don't know what's going to happen, but you should probably never talk to her ever again."

Summer went to check the hotel while Rose and I were going to check the streets. I was feeling scared.

"I really hope that she went back to the hotel." I stated. "It would be really easy for her to be raped or murdered around her. We need to find her quickly."

"We'll find her." Rose promised. At that time, Summer sent me a text saying that she was at the hotel. That was good news. That was really good news.

We headed back to the hotel, I knew that we should just go back home. Things would probably be better there. We got there, we found Summer and just Summer. The look on her face was unsettling.

"Bad news. I lost her." Summer explained.

"What?" Rose asked.

"She also took the stepmonster's painkillers." Summer added. "Should we split up?"

"No, we need to stay together." I declared. She wasn't answering her phone. I hoped that she wasn't going somewhere to kill herself. I was scared right now. This place reminded me too much of Chino except for the fact that the people seemed to have more money. I was terrified that we would find her dead in an alley somewhere. I was trying my best to keep it together. We should have gone home instead. We began to call her name hoping she would respond.

We did find her in an alley. She wasn't breathing but her heart was still beating. I managed to pick her up.

"We need a doctor." I stated. "She's still alive."

We definitely should have gone to Comic Con.

So the big news here is that Marissa was dating both Luke and Holly. Also Rhiannon didn't get to go to Comic Con. How will things go when she tries to get into school. Please don't forget to review.


	7. The Rescue

We sat in the kitchen in silence. I was expecting some kind of judgment from Sandy and Kirsten but they really hadn't said anything. I was wearing a yellow net cardigan with a black camisole and jean shorts with a small amount of blue eyeliner and pink lip gloss. Today was registration for school, even though I didn't particularly feel like going while Marissa was still a coma.

"So, I have three sesame and one plain." Kirsten declared. "We're probably not going to hear from the hospital for a while, so you might as well eat before you meeting with the dean."

They were trying to get me into the same school as Rose. I really wanted to go because all of my friends and Marissa would be there. Okay, so Summer was really only friend if you take away my sister and my girlfriend. Still my girlfriend was going to go there.

"I'll take them to school." Sandy volunteered.

"You can't be late for your first day." Kirsten reminded him. He had taken the job with the law firm. I did hope that he would still have time to defend people, even if it was just a little bit. "Okay, if we're not going to eat, we should just go."

At that time, the phone rang. I quickly grabbed it.

"Hello? Hey Mr. Cooper. That's great. We'll be right there." I declared. "She's awake."

We then went to the hospital. Even though, I didn't fully consider Marissa a friend, I still wanted to see her. The first thing I did was give Kaitlin a hug.

"Oh hey, she just fell asleep." Jimmy stated as I looked her over. "She was awake and aware. Thanks for calling the hospital and finding her. If they hadn't airlifted her out of there, she probably would not have made it."

"When can she go home?" Rose asked.

"They said in a day or so." Jimmy remarked. Where was her mother in this? "They're gonna keep her under observation."

"That's hospital policy." Kirsten declared. I couldn't help but wonder how she knew that. That seemed more like a Sandy thing.

"It's not like there's any reason to be concerned, right?" Mrs. Cooper quipped as she entered the room. "I mean a teenager popping a dozen pain pills and then washing it down with tequila is perfectly normal, right? Now how about you explain what you are doing here?"

"I called them." Jimmy stated.

"What Marissa needs right now is to be with her family, no visitors." Her mom declared.

"We should go." Sandy replied. I gave Kaitlin a kiss before we walked out. I saw her mother stare at me with daggers. "Don't take it personally. Julie has just been through every parent's nightmare."

"I'm sure she'll apologize." Kirsten told me.

"You are?" Sandy asked in disbelief. I was with him. She didn't seem like the type to apologize.

"Excuse me, Rhiannon can I talk to you?" Julie requested. "I don't know what happened in Mexico but here's what I do know. Marissa was a lot better off before you came here. Every problem she's had is rooted in you. Now you've almost killed my daughter."

I was about to say that I barely even knew her before Kaitlin spoke up.

"Mom, this is not Rhi's fault." She argued. "Marissa took the pills because Luke and Holly were cheating on her and you and dad are breaking up. She barely even hangs out with Rhiannon."

"I want you to stay away from both of my daughters." Julie ordered. "If I ever see you and Kaitlin together again, I will put you in juvie where you belong."

"Why is she blaming you and not Holly and Luke?" Rose asked once we got to the school. She was wearing a two piece blue and white checkered crop top and high-waisted miniskirt set.

"Because I'm easy to blame. I'm the outsider. I'm just glad that Marissa is okay." I replied.

"She can't keep you and Kaitlin apart." Rose pointed out.

"Girls, I'm gonna meet up with the events committee. I'll meet up with you at the office." Kirsten told us. "Don't be nervous, Rhiannon. You'll do great."

I looked around the campus and I couldn't help but be amazed by it.

"This is your school?" I questioned in awe as I saw a pair of signs. "You have a tennis court and a swimming pool?"

"I'm guessing you didn't at your old school." She replied. My old school was a middle school.

"They had a basketball hoop." I deadpanned. We walked around and saw Kirsten talking to one of the teachers.

"My mom is more popular than me. That's a little specific." She stated. "By the way, after the meeting we have to get our photos taken for our school IDs?"

"Your school has IDs?" I questioned.

A little bit later, I was sitting outside of the office with Kirsten. I was really nervous.

"Everything's going to be fine." She tried to assure me. It wasn't working. Even though I was a freshman, I knew the high school in Chino wasn't like this one.

"I don't know anything about high school." I admitted. "At my old school, they just wanted you to be there."

"Rhiannon, Harbor is one of the best private prep schools in the country." She explained. Yet for some reason, they didn't have uniforms, not that I was complaining. "If you graduate from here, you can get into any college in the UC system, maybe even the Ivy League."

I never saw myself as an Ivy League girl. I wasn't even sure if they let transgender people. No wait, they were in the North, of course they did.

"I've never really thought about college." I admitted.

At that point, Rose returned with her schedule, which consisted of some classes I had never even heard of. I was frightened.

"It's a good thing I don't have a life." She quipped. Why was she always so sarcastic anyway? "What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

"Rose, will you please tell her Dr. Kim is very nice." Kirsten replied.

"Yeah, she's sweet." Rose stated. Wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. At that point, a Korean woman walked out.

"Kirsten, how are you?" She greeted. "Rhiannon, why don't you step into my office?"

I was already intimidated.

"So, we have weak grades, truancy, and criminal activities." Dr. Kim said as she read my file. It wasn't good.

"It was a misdemeanor. She was coerced." Kirsten explained. "Plus she was dealing with depression from not being able to be herself."

I wouldn't say I was depressed, but I definitely didn't enjoy school.

"There's no doubt that Rhiannon has extraordinary promise, but I'm concerned that she won't be prepared for our rigorous curriculum." The dean replied.

"Are you sure you're not just concerned about the parents that don't want her hear." Kirsten retorted. I imagined Julie didn't, but who else?

"That is a consideration." Dr. Kim admitted. At lease she was honest. "But not a decisive one. Kirsten, you know how bright and motivated our students are. Those who aren't bred for USC go off to Harvard and Yale. I just think that Newport Union would be better for someone like Rhiannon."

"Someone like me, as in what?" I asked in offense. "I know I can't change where I'm from or who I am, but I can change where I'm going."

"Rhiannon, you do understand that if you fail, you would not only lose a year, but also self-confidence, don't you?" She asked.

"So, you want to boost my self-confidence by not even letting me try?" I quipped. "I just want a chance. I haven't been given a lot of them in my life. Just one chance, please."

"Your test scores are superb." She complimented. "I did respond to your essay and we could use a little more diversity even there are already three transgender students here including Rose. If you could pass a placement exam…"

"Just tell me where and when." I interrupted. "Sorry."

At that moment, I got a text from Kaitlin. I hoped I could Facetime with her later.

" _Is there any room in the pool house for me?"_ It read. I didn't know how to reply back. I didn't know if she would really try to run away from home. She then sent another. " _My mom wants sole custody."_

Once we got home, Rose let me look over one of her old practice tests.

"It's a good thing I never throw anything away." She said. "The questions will be different but this should help."

"Do you really think I can pass this?" I inquired.

"Yes. So I don't mean to cut into your study time, but do you still want to go to that group?" She asked.

"Yeah. When is that again?" I responded.

"Half an hour." She replied.

So, half an hour later, the two of us went to Dr. Carter's office where we met a few different girls around our age.

"Alright everyone, how is it going?" Dr. Carter asked. "We have some new members today. This is Rose and Rhiannon Cohen. Maybe everyone should introduce themselves."

"I'm Chelle and I have some news." The blue-haired girl said. "I'm just got word that my moms scheduled my surgery for December 22. So, I am getting a vagina for Christmas."

"That's great Chelle." A British blonde declared. "My name is Vicki Lucas. I have a twin sister. We're technically fraternal twins, but ever since I started transitioning, we get mistaken for being identical all of the time."

"Well does anyone want to talk about anything? It doesn't have to be related to being transgender." Dr. Carter remarked.

I decided that I probably should talk about it.

"So, I met with the dean of my new school today." I declared. "At first, it seemed like she didn't want me because I didn't have the grades before I started living as a girl. I got her to give me a chance, but I'm not completely sure that I can do it. I want to go to school there because my girlfriend is going there and maybe high school can be a fresh start."

"What school do you want to go to?" Vicki asked.

"Harbor." I answered.

"That's where I go too." Vicki says. "I hope you get in. I'd love to see you there."

That night, I decided to Facetime Kaitlin while I was studying. Technically, we were studying together. She had convinced her mom to let her go home for a while. I wasn't sure why she didn't just come to the pool house, but it was probably safer for us to Facetime. She needed to pass the test too. I wouldn't be surprised if there was pressure to Marissa from the school and not let Kaitlin in. Come to think of it, how were they going to pay for the school? Was Kirsten fitting the bill?

"You're lucky you have a bit more time to study this stuff." I declared.

"I don't even know if they want me at school because I'm pretty sure that my dad embezzled money from more than a few parents." She said.

"We we're going to need to kick this school's ass to show that we do belong." I told her. "I wish I could see you face-to-face." I remarked.

"You will as soon as I figure out a way to deal with my mom." She replied.

The next day, I headed to the school for my test wearing a grey asymmetrical dress and a jean jacket with some black nail polish. I was a little bit nervous. As I was about to start. I got a text from Kaitlin that simply read SOS. I didn't know what it meant other than possible trouble, but it wasn't like I could leave especially when I didn't even know what it meant. I just started to read through the questions of the test.

I was about halfway done when Rose and Summer entered the room. I didn't know the two of them were hanging out again. That was good, but I couldn't figure out why they were there.

"What are you guys doing here? Dr. Kim said that she would be right back." I said.

"I know this isn't the best time, but Marissa needs you…well us." Rose explained.

"Her mom has gone full Brittney Spears crazy." Summer explained. "She's trying to have her committed."

Suddenly, Kaitlin's text made a lot more sense. I still wasn't sure what I could do.

"What is going on here?" Dr. Kim asked them.

"Hi, Dr. Kim." Rose greeted her. "We're not helping her cheat, but this is kind of an emergency."

"We need Rhiannon for a little while." Summer added.

At that point, an argument broke out with all three of them trying to talk at once.

"Get out now." Dr. Kim ordered. Rose told me that they would be outside.

"I can't do this." I replied as I stood up.

"Have you finished the test?" She asked.

"No…" I remarked.

"Rhiannon if this is too difficult…" She responded. "If the Cohens are pressuring to do this…"

"It's not too difficult and they're my parents." I said. "I have a friend who is in a lot of trouble right now. One of the words on the school seal was loyalty and I have to show that now. If that means I have to sacrifice this, then I will. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

I walked outside and there they were.

"Let's go." I stated. I had no idea how we were going to do this. I was most likely sacrificing my future for this, so I hoped that it would work. It was quite possible that what we were about to do would be a felony. I didn't know the law, but it was worth the risk to get her away from her evil bitch of a mother. Hopefully, Kaitlin would be able to get away too.

Rose and I went to the hospital. Summer was supposed to be getting us some clothes to fit in better.

"This isn't good. She should have been here by now." Rose remarked.

"I'm sure that she is on her way." I replied.

"What if something's happened?" Rose rambled. "Marissa's dad can't even get her out of here. What are we going to do? This is probably illegal."

"Hi, I'm here for Marissa Cooper." I declared. Maybe they would believe I was her cousin.

"It's okay, Denise. They're with me." Summer interrupted. She was wearing a candy striper dress.

"Good lord." Rose stated. I couldn't believe how hot she looked wearing the dress. She had a cart of books with her.

"I told you I was a candy striper." Summer replied as she began to push the cart.

"I thought you were kidding." Rose said.

"It's for charity. All of the girls do it." Summer explained.

"Guys, less flirting and more rescuing." I interrupted. "Can you get us to Marissa's floor?"

"Try to keep up with me." She instructed. We followed her as she walked down the hall. "Hi, Gloria. I know it's my day off, but I just can't get enough of helping sick people. These girls are going to help me with the sponge baths."

"Dibs on that guy." Rose declared as she pointed to a random patient.

I hoped Kaitlin would be by the door. She knew that we were coming. She texted me saying that her mom was in the room and we needed to hold off for a minute. I needed to get changed into the dress that Summer gave me, so I had a little bit of time. I didn't see how her mom was able to do what she was trying. There was no way that Jimmy would agree to it. They couldn't just take her away.

I eventually found Kaitlin outside and headed into the room. I gave Marissa a dress to change into. I hoped it would work.

"I'll do my best to distract her." Kaitlin declared before she ran out of the room. "You don't have a lot of time."

"The dress was Summer's idea." I stated.

"Right…" Marissa declared. "Hey, don't you peek."

It didn't take that long for her to get dressed. I wished that we could go out the window, but we were too high up.

"Are you ready?" I asked. At that moment, the door opened. Thankfully, it wasn't her mom but instead Luke with some flowers.

"Luke, unless you're here to help us get Marissa out of here, you need to leave." I explained.

"Are you running away?" He asked.

"We don't have any other options." I pointed out. "Her mom is trying to get her locked in the loony bin, so either help us or leave now."

"Take the stairs." He instructed. I couldn't believe that he was good for something.

We began to move quickly to get her out. We decided to hide her the only place that we could think of: Jimmy's apartment. Needless to say, he was surprised when he saw us on the couch.

"Hi, Dad." She greeted him awkwardly.

"What are you doing here?" Jimmy asked.

"I checked myself out." Marissa lied.

"Does your mother know about this?" He questioned. It seemed like the lie would fall apart quickly.

"We'll wait in the car." Summer announced before all hastily stepped out. I wished that Kaitlin had been able to come with us, but we did not have time to wait for her.

"So, do you think this will work?" I asked Rose. "Do you know anything about the law? Do you ever pay attention to your dad?"

"Being a lawyer isn't very high on my to-do list." She answered. I sighed. She was useless.

"Well, she has to be able to stay here." Summer replied. "I need Coop here. I can't be friends with Holly anymore and I don't want no friends."

"We're standing right here." Rose pointed out.

"I still don't want her to go." Summer responded. Did that mean that she thought of us as friends?

"So, have you talked to Kaitlin lately?" Rose asked. At that point, Marissa came out of the apartment. "How'd it go?"

"He can't keep me." Marissa declared. "We're going to have to go somewhere else."

"Maybe we should get something to eat while we figure this out." Summer suggested. We went to the boardwalk and got some pizza. I supposed it was better than nothing. "What do you wanna do now, Coop?"

We could hide you in one of my mom's developments?" Rose offered.

"That will never work." I commented.

"How is this even possible?" Marissa asked. "My mom wants to lock me up in the nuthouse and my dad can't even do anything about it."

"Finally, I've been looking everywhere for you guys." Kaitlin interrupted as she ran over. "I told Mom that I would look for you. How'd it go with Dad?"

"It was a dead end." I answered.

"Well we don't have a lot of time to fix this." Summer said. "You just escaped from a psych ward wearing a candy striper outfit. If they didn't think that she was crazy before, they will now…I'm gonna go get you a slice, Mini-Coop."

"As will I." Rose added before they both walked away.

"If you're leaving town, I'm going with you." Kaitlin stated.

"Me too." I replied. I would go wherever Kaitlin went.

"Mom would love that." Marissa commented.

"Maybe I should just stay away since this is so much trouble." I suggested.

"Like hell you will." Kaitlin declared as the three of us leaned over the fence and looked at the water. I had never seen the ocean before.

"We need to do something." I pointed out. "We can't run away."

"I want to see if I can get her to listen." Marissa stated.

"I have an idea." I declared as I took my phone out and called Sandy.

"Hello?" He answered.

"I'm with Marissa and I need your advice." I told him before I explained the situation to him. "So what should we do?"

"Well, if I learned anything at work today, you don't wanna go to court with this." He replied.

We went back to the house and Sandy called Julie over. I had Kaitlin by my side holding my hand because I was very nervous.

"I told you to stay away." Julie remarked. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's on a ship to Japan." I quipped.

"Rhiannon." Sandy muttered.

"I cannot believe that you adopted this delinquent." Julie stated. "She is turning my daughters against me."

"I didn't need her help with that." Kaitlin told her.

"Julie, sit down." Sandy suggested calmly as he put a chair out for her.

"I will not sit down. I want to take Kaitlin home and find Marissa." She replied. "Now tell me where she is or I'm calling the cops."

"Julie, you've been through a lot but Rhiannon is not the problem." Sandy declared.

"Of course, she's the problem." Julie argued. "She just ran away from the hospital."

"No, she ran away from you." I countered. "What you want and what Marissa wants are two different things."

"You don't know what she wants!" The woman yelled as Kaitlin held me tightly.

"I know what she doesn't want!" I replied. "She doesn't want to live with you."

"I don't either." Kaitlin replied.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say to this." Julie replied.

"Just say yes." Marissa stated as she came out. "We wanna stay with Dad."

"Oh Honey, you don't mean that." Julie tried to convince her.

"Yes, we do." Marissa said. "I know you want to help, but you're making everything worse."

"You have no idea how scared I was." Julie replied as she started to cry.

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to hurt myself again. I'll see a therapist if you want, but I wanna do it here."

"This isn't over." Julie declared as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She then headed to the door. "I'll let myself out."

Summer then came in to take Marissa to her dad's.

"Do you wanna spend the night?" I asked Kaitlin.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Sandy remarked.

"We're just going to sleep." I replied.

"So I heard about what happened with your test today or rather what didn't happen." He said as he gave each of us a Snapple. "I get why you did it, but I'm worried about you."

"I'm okay with going to public school. It'll still be better than my old school." I told her. I wouldn't like it, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"You are going to go to Dr. Kim and explain yourself." He ordered.

"I don't think she wants to hear it." I argued.

"You can't be afraid of her." He replied. "You just stood up to Julie Cooper, the fiercest woman I know. You can take Dr. Kim. Talk to her. If there's a problem, you'll have your attorney present."

I took the test with Kaitlin the next day. I did really well on it.

"Welcome to Harbor." She told me. "But if you ever do that again, you're going to have to bring Johnny Cochrane back from the dead to save you."

We went outside where Rose and Sandy were waiting.

"Are you two ready to get your photos taken?" Rose asked.

"You mean get our mugshots taken." I quipped.

"Check out my mugshot." Sandy said as he showed off his new employee badge.

"You're going to look good no matter what." Kaitlin said before she gave me a kiss. "Just don't laugh if mine turns out bad."

There's a few characters in this chapter. Dr. Kim is played by Grace Park because the original actress wasn't Korean. Also Vicki is played by Rebecca Rosso and Chelle is played by Meaghan Martin. Please don't forget to review.


	8. The Heights

I was in the pool house preparing for my first day of high school. I was a little bit nervous. I supposed that was normal for most people about to go to high school. I hoped that I would be able to share some classes with Kaitlin. I knew I would at least be able to see her at school. I was wearing a cadet blue sleeveless turtleneck dress with a lace floral midsection and a pleated skirt. I thought that I should wear a dress on my first day to make a good impression. I wasn't overly concerned about people liking me, but I wanted to look nice.

"Finally, are you ready to go?" Rose asked as I entered the kitchen. She was wearing a light blue Marvel hoodie and jeans. "So how long do these take to work?"

Rose had started hormones yesterday.

"It'll be a few weeks before you notice any major differences." I remarked.

"First day, are you excited?" Sandy asked. His hair was wet, so I assumed he was done surfing. I probably should ask him to teach me sometime. I shrugged. "Enough said."

"How do you manage to convey everyone with just a look?" Rose questioned as I grabbed a bagel and took a seat at the table.

"How are you doing? Are you nervous?" Kirsten inquired as I stopped drinking my apple juice.

"Why would I be nervous?" I replied, somewhat nervously. I supposed what I was most nervous about was being found out as transgender.

"Because we're going to a school where most of the guys are like Luke and the girls are like Holly without any redeeming qualities." Rose answered before she looked at me. "I see that was a rhetorical question. Look on the bright side. You have a hot girlfriend, even though her dad stole from half the county. Actually, that's probably another reason to be nervous. I'm going to stop talking now."

"That would be a good idea." I agreed.

"Well maybe this year will be better." Kirsten suggested.

"I don't think the water polo team will go any easier now that I'm a girl." Rose replied. She probably wouldn't have to deal with them as much.

"At least you two have each other." Sandy remarked.

"That is very wise, Dad." Rose stated. I could tell that we were doomed. Maybe I was just over anxious because the hormones were acting up. Things probably would be fine.

When I got to school, the first thing that I noticed was that Rose was right about the water polo team. Apparently, they were the football players of the school. I personally thought it would be lacrosse because I thought that was supposed to be big with rich kids. The number of people in the courtyard didn't exactly ease my nerves.

"I need to find Kaitlin." I commented. I knew that seeing her would make a lot less nervous. Thankfully, she was with Summer and Marissa. She was wearing a white short-sleeved blouse with a ruffled light blue skirt.

"Hello, Summer. How does your schedule look today?" Rose asked. I was glad with the progress that she had made.

"Full." Summer answered. I still didn't look like they would be dating any time soon.

"I got you a smoothie." Kaitlin replied as she handed me a cup with red liquid in it. "I hope you don't mind pomegranate."

"As long as there's no raspberry or banana in it, I'm good." I declared before I took a sip from the cup.

"You know I kind of want to skip." I admitted. I knew it was bad because it was the first day.

"We don't want Dr. Kim to call our mom." Marissa remarked.

"Can you hang out after school?" I questioned.

"I'm chairing the Kickoff Carnival Committee and Kaitlin is helping me." Marissa declared.

"She's making me do it." Kaitlin corrected. "I've been looking for an excuse to get out of it."

"I'm an excuse." I told her with a smile.

"I'll meet you out front." Kaitlin promised before I finished my drink. I had a feeling that they wouldn't want us to have them during class. I was a bit surprised that they had them at all to be honest.

"We need to go, Coop." Summer told Marissa.

"So what class do you have first?" I asked Kaitlin.

"English." She stated. "What about you?"

"Theatre." I replied. I had to take at least one fine arts class to graduate, so I decided that I would get it out of the way early.

"Well I guess I'll see you later." She said before she kissed me and walked away.

"See you Summer." Rose replied before the two of them also walked away. At least she was persistent. "Slowly, I thaw her icy heart."

I supposed the good thing about being a freshman was that people didn't know who I was. Still, the ones that did like talked about me like I was trash. I went into the auditorium and took a seat.

"Hi." A girl with bleach blonde hair said as she took a seat next to me. "I'm Hadley Hawthorne. What's your name?"

"Rhiannon Cohen." I told her.

"That's a pretty name." She replied.

At that point, the teacher came in. I couldn't believe who it was. What was she doing teaching a class for a high school? I had a feeling Harbor was going to be very different.

"You're Ava Ramos." One of the girls said. You know, I hated when people did that as if celebrities didn't know who they were.

"Yes, I am." Ava declares. "I'm taking a year off from acting because Dr. Kim, who happens to be my neighbor asked me to teach this year. So, since this is the first day, I won't get the chance to know all of you. So, I'm gonna take something out of the old cliched teaching and have you get to know the person on your right and talk to the class about them."

"So, what do your parents do?" She asked me.

"Well I was recently adopted, but my new dad is a lawyer and my mom works for the Newport Group." I explained. "What do your parents do?"

"Well it's just my dad." She replied. "He created _The Valley,_ plus lesser shows _Music City Cops_ and _Byron._ "

"Wow, that's pretty cool." I replied. I was surprised that she was going to this school. I thought the show shot in Los Angeles. Of course, Newport Beach wasn't as urbanized as LA and probably was more enjoyable to live in. I had never been to LA, so I didn't know.

After school, I was waiting outside for Kaitlin to come and meet me. I was currently reading a book that I didn't know that I had to read. I couldn't believe that I was already behind on the first day. I would have to read the book fast. I supposed that I could get the information that I needed from the book off of the internet, but I didn't think that was right. I was going to catch up. I needed to prove to Dr. Kim that I could do this.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rose asked.

"You didn't tell me about summer reading." I told her icily. I then noticed that she was with a girl who wasn't Summer. She looked familiar.

"So listen, Vicki here convinced me to join _The Plank."_ Rose replied. "It's a literary magazine."

"I needed an extracurricular and I wanted something that different involve playing sports." Vicki replied. She had a British accent. It was then that I realized that I knew from. She was in that support group.

It seemed like she was a British virgin of Rose. I wasn't sure if we needed more than one of her. Of course, I didn't know if she liked comics.

"She's appealing on many levels." Rose said. "Plus I have written a few limericks that I would like to share with the world."

"Have fun." I told her before I saw Marissa and Kaitlin. I wasn't expecting Marissa to be there too.

"So, I need to cancel." Marissa said. I wasn't expecting her to be involved. "I have to plan the carnival as social chair."

"And I can only get out of it if I do something else." Kaitlin added. "Can we reschedule?"

"Just tell me when." I responded with a sigh.

"You could come to the carnival." Marissa offered.

"And if you want to find something that we can both do." Kaitlin offered. "We can do it right now."

"I have a lot of reading to do." I pointed out, however she was already dragging me away.

We didn't find anything. I wasn't sure if everything had gotten together yet. In the morning, I was at the table, desperately trying to finish the book that I had spent most of the night on. Why couldn't they have chosen something that there was a movie of or something that I had already read?

"Hey, Kid, how did school go for you?" Sandy asked.

"Fine. I'm just behind." I answered lifelessly. I was waiting for the coffee to finish.

"That has to be a new record." He quipped as the coffee pot went off and he poured himself a cup. "I know it's brutal. You're brave to face those preppy little savages and teachers."

"Well private school is definitely different." I declared with a yawn. "Maybe it was a bad idea."

"You're one of the smartest kids they've got." Sandy said as he closed the refrigerator door.

"It's not the work. It's just that everyone has something, even Rose." I explained. "Kaitlin helped me look for extracurriculars and I couldn't find anything that I liked."

"Wait, Rose has an extracurricular?" He remarked in surprise.

"A girl talked into her into it." I explained. "It wasn't Summer either."

"You mean Rose Cohen?" He asked in disbelief. I nodded. "Okay…really? Maybe you should try a sport."

"Can I play sports?" I replied. I didn't know if I was allowed.

"As long as you're on hormone therapy, you should be fine." He informed me. "They have rules about it, including you not having to tell anyone that you're transgender."

"Hello." Rose said as she walked into the kitchen.

"We're trying to find an extracurricular for Rhiannon." Sandy remarked. "I hear Harbor has a great archery program."

"Maybe you could be the next Green Arrow." Rose quipped. "What century are you in, Dad? Open your mind. This isn't me we're talking about. Rhiannon has an athletic albeit small body. She can achieve all that your Jewishness has prevented me from doing."

"You know Sandy Koufax is Jewish and Paul Goldschmidt of Jewish descent, even though he's a Christian." I pointed out.

"Maybe you can play soccer." Sandy suggested. He then put on a fake British accent. "The beautiful game of football."

"I played soccer before, but never as a girl. Are you sure I'm tall enough?" I questioned as I texted Kaitlin about it to see if she was interested.

Once I was at school, I decided to ask her in case she hadn't seen the text.

"You wanna play soccer? Are you sure they'll let you?" Kaitlin asked. She had definitely seen it. "If they let you play, I'll definitely play with you. I used to be great."

"How's the carnival planning going?" I said to Marissa.

"It was very exciting." Marissa replied. I was not sure if she was being serious or not. "So, if you two are going to tryouts, I can meet you afterwards."

"Maybe we can get dinner?" Kaitlin suggested. I wasn't exactly thrilled about having Marissa, but if Kaitlin wanted to hang out with her, I felt that I shouldn't say anything, at least not so early into our relationship.

I noticed that Rose was talking to Vicki again. It was kind of hard to believe that they were just meeting now. Maybe she had just moved from England and that was why they hadn't met before. I so wanted to be making out with Kaitlin, but I didn't want everyone thinking I was this bad girl.

Once I got to English, I found out that the test on the book had been pushed back to Friday. It meant that I had gotten no sleep for nothing. It seemed like the universe was messing with me.

After school, I wore some athletic clothes to soccer practice and even had Sandy bring me some shin guards and knee socks during his lunch break. Kaitlin was with me.

"So, are you two the last of the tryouts?" The coach asked us. I nodded. "What positions are you trying for?"

"Striker for me, wing for her." I replied. "Before we start, can I talk to you about something in private?"

"Do you have a medical condition?" He questioned.

"Sort of. I really just don't feel comfortable discussing it in front of everyone." I explained.

I went with him inside of the school. I made sure that no one was around before I spoke,

"I'm transgender." I replied. "I am on hormone therapy, but I wanted to tell you. I hope you'll still consider me for the team. I also hope that you'll keep this between us."

"Well I'm going to be honest with you too. Freshman usually don't get to play much. Freshman usually don't get to play that much unless you show superior talent. Your gender identity won't have anything to do with that. The district says that we're not allowed to discriminate as long as you don't have an advantage."

I then went outside and realized that Holly was on the team. She didn't strike me as the athletic type. I was a bit out of practice, but I managed to adapt quickly. I ended up getting sweaty and I also managed to score on an assist from Kaitlin. We then went inside to look for Marissa and noticed that Holly was talking to her. I wasn't sure if we should wait.

"Do you feel like making a bet that they'll get back together?" Kaitlin asked.

"No." I replied. I didn't know if it would be a good idea for them to get back together.

"Maybe we should get out of here." Kaitlin suggested. Those were words that I was glad to here.

"I don't want to see Marissa get hurt again." I commented.

"I don't either, but we should let them handle it." Kaitlin suggested.

I realized that she was right and Marissa's love life was none of my business. I then remembered a good reason to wait for Marissa.

"She's the one with the car." I reminded Kaitlin.

"I guess we're walking then." She stated. I grabbed her hand and we started to walk. I was glad that I had a stable, understanding girlfriend. I was also glad that I could do something with her especially since the only class that we had together was History.

We ended up getting some pizza on the boardwalk because she didn't have a lot of money and I didn't want to spend money from the credit card that Sandy and Kirsten had given me.

"Hey, Rhiannon." Hadley greeted me.

"Hadley, hi." I replied nervously. I supposed that I wasn't the best at talking to people outside of school. I then looked at Kaitlin. "This is Hadley Hawthorne. She's in my Theatre class. Her dad created _The Valley."_

"Hi, I'm Kaitlin, Rhiannon's girlfriend." The brunette explained. She seemed a little possessive. Or maybe she just liked telling people that I was her girlfriend. I didn't think Hadley was being particularly flirty with me.

"Aren't you that girl who dad stole all that money and whose sister overdosed in Tijuana?" Hadley asked her.

"Let's not talk about that." I declared. "Maybe we should get a table and we can talk."

In the morning, I noticed Rose in the pool house after I came out of the shower. Fortunately, I was already dressed and not in a towel.

"What did I say about coming in without knocking?' I asked. I might have to start locking the pool house.

"What's up? How's life? I feel like we never get to talk anymore." She told me.

"We ate ice cream together last night." I pointed out.

"Fine, keep it bottled up." She said. I couldn't help but wonder what she was talking about. "Are you still going out with Kaitlin."

"Yes." I answered. "Okay, so I'm a little concerned about Marissa. I don't know if I have any right to be, but I saw her talking to Holly yesterday."

"Were they just talking or were they making out?" She asked. She then ducked when I threw a pillow at her head.

"They were both crying. They could have been making up." I stated.

"It also could have been nothing." She argued.

"It didn't look like nothing." I remarked.

"Did you actually hear what they were saying?" She asked. I shook my head. "Then just ask Marissa about it. There's better place to get information than from the source.

I realized that that was actually god advice. I decided to go and see her at school. I took Kaitlin with me because I had a feeling that she wanted to know about it. I wasn't sure how much they talked at home.

"Hey." I greeted her. "So, we missed you yesterday."

"I waited for you two." She said.

"We got hungry and decided to just leave." I declared. "So what did you do?"

"Nothing." She lied. "My meeting went long."

For some reason, she didn't want to tell us about her conversation with Holly. I thought about calling her out but then she might accuse me of spying on her.

"How'd it go?" Kaitlin asked.

"Good. I think, it's going to be good." She answered.

"Did you do anything else?" I questioned. I decided to give her another chance to tell the truth.

"I went home after I couldn't find you." She said. "Did you two walk somewhere?"

"We should go try to get something before they run out of smoothies." Kaitlin replied. "I can't believe that she's lying to me. I need a distraction."

She grabbed the paper and gasped.

"So, your dad's new firm is suing your mom's company." She told me.

"This could be a problem." I declared.

After school, Marissa actually did come out to the soccer field. She started to talk to Holly while the latter was tying her cleats. I wanted to do something. I thought about taking her out, but that would send a bad message. Not to mention, slide tackling was against the rules.

Dinner that night was intense. No one was speaking. I didn't really have an opinion on things because I didn't know who was right. I figured that it might be best just to stay out of it, so I wouldn't have to take a side. If anyone asked, I would pretend not to know anything.

After dinner, I was finishing the book in the pool house when Marissa barged in. I really needed to start locking the door.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned. "Are you going to lie to me some more?"

"What are you talking about?" She stammered.

"Yesterday, we saw you talking to Holly and you lied to us about it." I pointed out.

"I didn't know what to say." She declared.

"Well maybe I just want to know if you're getting back together." I responded. "Holly is one of the reasons that you almost died."

"What happened between Holly and I is none of your concern." She told me. I couldn't help but wonder if she was always this irritating.

"Well excuse me for being a concerned friend!" I yelled. "Maybe we shouldn't even be friends."

"Maybe we shouldn't." She agreed. "Just so you know, I can date whoever I want."

The next morning, I noticed Sandy in the pool house.

"So I saw Marissa left here looking pretty angry last night." He said. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"There's nothing to really talk about." I replied. "I just want to go out with Kaitlin, but that seems difficult since they are living together."

"Sometimes love is hard." He told me. "Have you been reading the paper lately?"

"Yes." I responded. "I don't know how you do it."

"I don't know how I do either." He admitted. "The last thing I want is to lose my marriage because of a case."

I started to wonder how custody of me would work in that, but I didn't want to think about that.

"You know, I'd love to see you play sometime." He said. "Rose was never really into sports. I can see why that was now."

"I still don't know if I'm going to be starting." I replied. "I don't want you to be there just to see me on the bench."

I later went to school with Rose and met up with Kaitlin and kissed her.

"So, I hear you have a girlfriend, Rose." Kaitlin remarked. "She's a British blonde."

"Vicki and I are just friends." Rose stated.

"Well does Summer know that?" Kaitlin questioned. "If you're planning on making her jealous, it might be working."

"I think that's exactly what they're doing." I answered. "So did Marissa talk to you about last night? Things got pretty heated between us…but not like…we got angry."

"You're cute when you babble." She stated. That caused me to blush brightly.

"I just don't know if I should apologize to her, even though I'm pretty sure I'm right." I said.

"Well considering that she is my sister and it would be easier for us to date if you didn't hate each other, you should." Kaitlin reasoned. "You can do it tonight at the carnival. Speaking of which, will you be my date?"

"I would love to." I declared.

That night, I was wearing a black tee with a leather jacket and a red button-up skirt with black boots. Kaitlin wore a red tee with a pleated floral knee-length skirt. I was happy to be on a date, but nervous about apologizing to Marissa.

"So do you wanna go on the Ferris Wheel?" She questioned.

"I can't." I replied. "I get panic attacks around heights."

"Well I would be there to hold you close." She pointed out before we noticed Rose and Vicki by the skeeball booth. "Are you sure they're not dating?"

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"So do you wanna play? I could win you a stuffed animal. I didn't see any last time I was in the pool house." She offered. I thought about getting stuffed animals, but I didn't know what to get.

I could tell that Vicki was really good at it. Rose looked like she was impressed.

"Vicki, this is my girlfriend, Kaitlin." I introduced.

"Charming." Vicki responded. "I don't think Rose understands playing hard to get."

"That's because she's not hard to get." I replied. "Why are you helping her with Summer?"

"Why not?" She challenged. I raised an eyebrow "I don't think I'm her type. Summer has beautiful hair, lush lips and real boobs. When she looks at me, she sees a lab partner."

"Half of the school already thinks that you're dating." Kaitlin declared. "If you like her, go for it and see what happens."

At that point, I saw Summer and Marissa.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." I said. "I like the cat."

I then went over and grabbed Summer's arm. They were about to go on the Ferris Wheel.

"Do you mind?" I asked Summer.

"I am not getting involved." Summer declared. I was extremely nervous. I took a seat. I hoped that I wouldn't freak out too much.

"What are you doing?" Marissa asked.

"I need to talk to you." I stammered. I had to keep it together.

"Are you okay?" She questioned. She probably that I was shaking.

"I'm kind of afraid of heights." I said. "This is important and I said some things last night…"

Suddenly, the wheel stopped at the top. Fuck, my nightmares were coming true.

"Why did it stop? I need to get down. I shouldn't have done this. I'm going to die." I babbled.

"Rhiannon, it's okay." She assured me. "You're strapped in and I've got you."

"I'm sorry okay." I declared. "If I'm going to die, I want you to know that. I shouldn't have said what I said and I do want to be friends."

At that point, the wheel started moving again. As soon as it got to the bottom, I ran into Kaitlin's arms. I was on the verge of tears. She gave me the cat I wanted and a kiss. I hoped that I would never have to do that again.

So Rhiannon's first week of school went well. Rose and Vicki might end up dating. Plus Hadley goes to Harbor. She's played by Dove Cameron and Ava is played by Aimee Teegarden. The coach is still played by Eric Allan Kramer. Please don't forget to review.


	9. The Perfect Couple

I couldn't believe how fast time was flying. It felt like last week school had just started and now it was almost Halloween. I was still trying to figure out what costume to wear. I had never been big on costumes before, but that was because I didn't want to wear boy costumes. Now I could be an iconic character or just wear something sexy. There were so many decisions to make and I couldn't help but love it. For once, I was excited that I didn't know what to wear. I wondered if I should wear a couples' costume with Kaitlin.

Speaking of Kaitlin, I was currently on my back on my mattress with her on top of me. She started to kiss different parts of my body and I loved it.

"Can I take your shirt off?" I asked. I always felt it was good to ask for permission, even though we had seen each other topless several times. She nodded and I pulled her tank top over of her head, leaving both of us in our bras. I knew she wished that she could give me the same pleasure that I had given her, but we couldn't do that yet. "So what time do you need to be back at your dad's?"

"Soon." She answered with a giggle. "But I bet he can wait a few more minutes at least."

"Well it is a school night." I pointed out flirtatiously as I removed my shorts. "Sandy and Kirsten probably don't want me up much longer."

"Then we should be quick." She agreed.

Ten minutes later, she started to get dressed. She actually was putting on my clothes. We were basically the same size except she was a little taller and weighed a little more.

"You know there's a bit of a downside to you not living next door anymore." I declared.

"Yeah, but the upside is greater." She said. "I don't have to talk to my mom anymore. I wonder if I could spend the night."

"I doubt it." I declared as I started to put on my nightgown. "You should probably tell Kirsten that you need a ride home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hey, I have a question for you." She declared as she got up. "What are we going to do for Halloween? Do you wear costumes together or should we just go with something separate."

"I'm not even sure." I admitted.

"We should still go on a date." She stated before she walked out. I was lucky that no one walked in on us. It was probably something that they didn't have to worry about with Rose before.

The following morning, I walked in on Kirsten and Sandy kissing in the kitchen. Luckily, it was something that I was used to. I was wearing a grey sweater and black leggings. I grabbed a glass of juice from the fridge.

"So, Kaitlin's hair looked kind of messy last night." Kirsten told me. I was pretty sure that they were going to mention sex. They seemed to be debating which one was going to talk about it. I wasn't sure if they knew how to talk about it.

"Can we not talk about this?" I requested.

"Not talk about what?" Rose questioned as she entered the kitchen.

"I don't really need an explanation for any of it." I added.

"Explanation about what?" Rose asked.

"I'll see you tonight." Sandy said to Kirsten as he hastily exited.

"We should get going too." I told Rose

"Wait. I don't know what we're talking about." Rose pointed out. She brought it up again once we got to school. "So, what was that about?"

"Your mom knows Kaitlin and I had sex last night." I relented, because I felt she wouldn't shut up about it.

"Wait you had sex like…" She replied uneasily.

"It wasn't like that," I explained. "It was just me giving it to her. She hasn't seen me fully naked but I didn't use that."

"I don't really know how it's used." She replied. Hmm, I thought nerds loved porn.

"That doesn't surprise me." I commented.

"Is it awesome?" She asked. Well, it was kind of one-sided.

"The downside is I don't get as much out of it." I replied. "But I'm not talking about Kaitlin specifically."

At that point, Kaitlin walked over. She was wearing a black blouse and shorts.

"I think your mom knows we had sex last night." She told me.

"I need to sit down." Rose remarked. "So, when exactly did you lose your virginity?"

"In the broadest sense, I'm still a virgin." I pointed out. At that point, Marissa and Summer walked over to us.

"What are you guys talking about?" Marissa questioned. Why was everyone being so nosy about what was going on?

"We were definitely not talking about sex." Rose replied. I sighed. "Summer, can I walk you to Bio?"

"I can walk myself." Summer stated. It seemed like she wasn't dating Vicki yet,

"Then you can walk me there." Rose replied before the two of them left.

"You two are having sex?" Marissa asked. "How does that work?"

"Why does everyone care?" I challenged. "So, we had sex. It's not a big deal."

Later, I was at lunch with Kaitlin and Hadley.

"So, my dad is looking for new actors for the show." Hadley declared. "I could maybe get you an audition some time."

"I thought they didn't cast high schoolers as high schoolers." I replied.

"They do sometimes." Kaitlin pointed out.

"The point, I can get you an audition if you'd like." Hadley remarked. "Your hair is prettier than mine. I didn't know those things worked like that."

I had told her about me a few days ago.

"I'll have to think about it." I declared. I'd probably also have to talk to Sandy and Kirsten about it as well.

"So, what are you gonna be for Halloween?" Hadley inquired. "I was going to dress as Judy Jetson."

"You know I wish one of us was old enough to drive." I stated. "It would make dates easier."

"Walking is fine," Kaitlin declared.

"I like you two as a couple." Hadley remarked.

"You know we haven't ever been on a regular date." I pointed out. "I think it could be nice."

As I was leaving lunch, I noticed Rose and Vicki in the hallway. Kaitlin and I currently had a bet going on whether they would get together before or after Thanksgiving. We currently didn't have a plan if Rose actually did start dating Summer. We would have to discuss that later.

Soccer practice wasn't that interesting. I felt that we had a pretty good team, even though my playing time was kind of limited. I was currently on the bench as I noticed Kaitlin checking her phone.

"So my mom is at my dad's house and she tweeted that she's throwing a party on Saturday." She said.

"She probably doesn't want me to be there." I pointed out.

"I didn't say that I wanted to go." She replied before she took a sip of Gatorade.

"Then don't." I proposed. "We can do dinner and a movie. Now I have a question for you. We both think Rose is going to end up with Vicki, but what do we do if she actually does start dating Summer?"

"We congratulate her." Kaitlin quipped. "Coach is calling for you."

I was still glad that I was getting to play some. At least I was in a sport with substitutions. Some sports you didn't get to play unless someone else got hurt.

That night, I was doing some homework when I heard a knock on my door. I had started to lock it after one too many times of people walking in. However, this time it was unlocked.

"It's open." I declared before Kaitlin walked into the pool house. "Hey."

"So, my mom really wants me at this party of hers." She remarked. "She's really sorry for how things at the hospital went down."

"Did you tell her that you wanted to bring me?" I asked, hoping that it would be a deal breaker.

"She said that you could come." She replied. "It's on a yacht and it's for a good cause."

You know a Halloween party/fundraiser sounded like a bit of weird idea when you thought about it. I would still have to find a costume to wear.

"Are you sure it's a good idea, because she does hate me." I replied. I really didn't want to go.

"Please, Rhiannon, come with me." She begged. "Marissa thinks that our parents will get back together."

"Do you have any idea what kind of costume, I should wear to it." I questioned with a sigh. She wanted her parents to work things out and I supposed I wanted what she wanted, even though I thought her dad could do better.

"We can go shopping after school tomorrow." She said. "We can probably still find a good couple's costume. I still have some money saved up from work."

"I can't wait." I replied. "But in case you change your mind, I'd be cool with that too."

"I'll make sure to let you know." She told me before giving me a wet kiss.

The next morning, I was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast while Rose was talking.

"So, I occasionally talk about Summer, but I don't think she's all I talk about." She stated.

"Vicki likes you, you idiot." I replied before taking a bite of my cereal. "And yes, you do talk about Summer all of the time."

"I can't believe that I can't see the girl right in front of me." She said.

When we got to school, I decided to tell her about my issue.

"So, you're going to be a boat with Julie Cooper." She said. "What are you going to wear?"

"Rose, this is serious." I pointed out.

"It's not like she's going to throw you overboard." Rose remarked.

"Well Kaitlin is my girlfriend and I need to support her." I told her. "I can't believe this. I mean I like Kaitlin too much to say no, even though I really don't want to go. You should come and help me out because you're my sister."

"I can't take Summer." She stated.

"Then bring Vicki." I proposed. She then went over to talk to the Brit. I was pretty sure I was going to win the bet.

After school, Kaitlin and I headed to the costume shop. There was no practice because the coach was out with bad stomach problems. It probably was better to get there early, even though it was a regular costume shop and they got regular shipments of costumes. They still were probably their busiest around Halloween.

"What about this?" Kaitlin asked as she pulled out a Lara Croft costume.

"It seems a little slutty to me." I commented. "Plus, that outfit would be totally impractical for the jungle. Do you care what your mom thinks?"

"I do a little, but I care what you think more." She answered.

"Oh my God." I remarked. I couldn't believe it. I didn't think they would have it.

"What?" Kaitlin asked.

"They have a Spider Gwen costume." I replied as I held up the black, white and red jumpsuit with a hood. It didn't have a mask, but I was okay with that.

"I guess I can wear this then." Kaitlin replied as she held up a Black Cat costume.

"I just hope no one gets into any fights." I remarked.

"I'll make sure none of that happens." She assured me. "Maybe if everything goes well, I'll move back next door."

We then went to change into our costumes. Once we came out, we saw none other than Julie Cooper in the store. I couldn't believe that she would be there. All I knew was that things suddenly became incredibly awkward. I didn't know what to say to anyone.

"Wow, look at you two." She remarked.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Kaitlin asked her.

"I needed to tell you that we need to be there early to set up. I hope you don't mind, Rhiannon." Julie replied.

"I could meet you there." I told Kaitlin. "I won't be coming alone."

"Sure." Kaitlin agreed before she went back to the changing stall. However, before I could, Julie stopped me.

"I need to talk to you." She said. "I know that we have never seen eye-to-eye, but I want to say that I'm sorry. You've really helped Marissa and Kaitlin out and I hope this party will be a fresh start for us."

She seemed at least a little sincere about it.

"I need to get changed." I replied. I supposed that there was no reason I couldn't give her a chance.

At dinner, Sandy and Kirsten were fighting about this chick named Rachel that Sandy worked with. Caleb had said something and I was pretty sure that I needed to stay out of it. Eventually, it was just me and Sandy in the kitchen.

"So how is everything going with your relationship?" He asked. "I need to talk to you about that, by the way."

"Well on Saturday, I'm going to this charity event with Kaitlin." I explained. "I'm confused about her mom. Now she seems to ship Kaitlin and I after threatening to have me arrested before. I'm really nervous."

"Well if you figure out how to deal with in-laws, let me know." He requested.

I then headed out to the pool house. However, I couldn't help but notice something strange. I noticed Caleb walking over to Julie's door. I walked closer and I couldn't help but notice the two of them kissing. That really complicated things. I then noticed that Julie was looking at me. I ran into the pool house as fast as I could and locked the door.

In the morning, I was listening to Rose talk about Summer some more. She was talking about how Summer rushed to find a date as soon as she found out Rose was going with someone else.

"Okay, so you've made her jealous." I remarked. "I still think that you would be better off with Vicki."

Later, I was finishing putting on my costume with a headband before I noticed Kaitlin walking over to the pool house. I opened the door and she gave me a kiss.

"So I managed to get out of the setup because Summer volunteered instead." She stated. "She's bringing some girl I've never seen before."

"That's because she's trying to make Rose jealous." I explained.

"That suit really makes your butt look good." She commented. I blushed. "I wanted to thank you for coming and being civil with my mom."

"About that…" I replied. "I kinda saw your mom making out with Caleb last night."

"Oh…" She remarked in surprise. "It would probably be a good idea not to tell Marissa. She really thinks that my mom and dad are going to get back. Now things are going to be super-awkward."

"I'm sorry." I apologized. "I just thought that since I was your girlfriend that I shouldn't keep secrets from you."

"I'm glad that you're telling me." She declared. "This really sucks. He's like your grandfather. If they get married, my mom will be your grandma."

"Do you think Vicki is here yet?" I asked.

"If she is, I hope that Rose isn't being friendly with her." Kaitlin said. "She needs to make a move. Someone needs to teach her how to flirt."

"Are you two ready?" Kirsten asked as she entered the pool house.

"Don't ask." She instructed. He probably shouldn't have taken the case.

We headed to the dock and the first thing that happened was a photographer wanted a picture of the Cooper family. Marissa was dressed as a pirate, Jimmy was Hercules and Julie was…just in an evening gown. She also didn't look too thrilled about the picture.

"Rhiannon, why don't you join us?" Julie suggested.

"It's a family picture." I told her before I walked onto the boat. I was glad that Caleb hadn't seen me. I also noticed that Summer, who was dressed as a sexy cowgirl, had pretty much immediately ditched her date. She was staring at Rose, who was dressed as Black Canary (wearing tights since her parents wouldn't let her wear fishnets) and Vicki, who was wearing the Lara Croft costume. At least she had the right accent to match.

"Is that jealousy I see?" I asked Summer.

"Why would I be jealous that she brought a sexy blonde with her?" Summer retorted. "I am not jealous of anyone. Now if you excuse me, I have somewhere else that I need to be right now."

I was a bit surprised to see that Summer actually did like Rose. I wasn't going to tell Rose because I wanted her to be with Vicki. I was still a pretty messed-up love triangle.

Later, I was at the bar getting Kaitlin and I some non-alcoholic drinks. It was then Julie appeared in front of me. I almost spilled the drinks.

"Hi, Rhiannon." She greeted me politely. There she was again, acting freakishly nice to me.

"This is a nice party." I told her awkwardly.

"Thank you, and thanks for not telling Marissa about last night." She said.

"I told Kaitlin." I declared. "We agreed not to tell her because we don't want to hurt her. However, she is pretty keen on the idea of you and Jimmy getting back together. I hope you plan on telling her soon."

"I'm her mother and I'll tell her when I'm damn ready." She replied. There was the Julie that I used to seeing. "Stay out of this. It's none of your business."

I could have said that Caleb was my grandfather that it was my business, but I refrained from doing so and instead went to find Kaitlin. I felt like I needed a stronger drink.

I saw that Marissa was teasing Summer about liking Rose. She looked so happy and I didn't want to ruin her mood. I then walked up to the top deck and met with Kaitlin. I handed her a drink.

"So, I met your mom at the bar." I told her.

"What did she say?" Kaitlin asked curiously.

"She basically said that I didn't have any right to tell Marissa." I replied.

"Tell me what?" Marissa asked. "Kaitlin, Mom and Dad are getting along so well. If Dad finds a job soon, maybe we can be neighbors again."

"I wouldn't count on it." I responded. "I've seen this before."

"Well _my_ parents are getting back together." Marissa replied.

"Mom's dating Caleb." Kaitlin replied. "Rhiannon them kissing last night."

She was definitely upset by that. We could tell as she walked away.

"Maybe this wasn't the right time to crush her dreams." I declared. "Maybe we could have waited until tomorrow or something."

"Rhi, I don't want to see my sister like that." She argued. "I wanted to rip the Band-Aid off. I'm sorry if it was sensitive, but it's better than her clinging to a fantasy world."

"You didn't have to tell her tonight." I reiterated.

"I'm sorry, are you dating me or her?" She challenged before she stormed off. I was a little surprised that it had taken it us so long to get in a fight about Marissa. I sighed and went to find Rose. She was with Vicki and they were making fun of the locals. At least she was having fun.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Vicki asked me.

"We had a fight." I explained. "Mind if I join you?"

"I think this town is starting to grow on me." Vicki said before she kissed Rose.

"Do you want something to drink? How about you Rhiannon?" Rose asked before she hastily walked away.

"I'm sorry my sister is an idiot." I apologized.

I then went inside and found that Julie was giving some sort of speech about the money.

"There's my beautiful daughter Marissa. How about you come up and say something?" Julie requested. I had a feeling it wouldn't end well. "Marissa, would you like to announce the lovely couple that won our raffle?"

Marissa then walked over with a grin on her face. It definitely wasn't going to end well.

"How about a round of applause for my mom and Caleb Nichol?" Marissa asked as people clapped. "If anyone deserves a romantic getaway, it's them. Aren't they just the perfect couple? They've been keeping their romance a secret, but tonight the secret's out."

I had to say that I was impressed by that. I then realized that I needed to find my girlfriend. She was over by the deck by herself, looking at the ocean.

"How about a visit from your friendly neighborhood Spider Gwen?" I asked. She looked at me. "So, Marissa actually took it pretty well. You missed her revealing it to everyone. You were right."

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you." She apologized. "The truth is, I don't like this relationship, and I took it out on you and Marissa."

"Maybe you should check on her." I suggested before kissing her. "I should probably find Kirsten and get going."

When I found her, I was surprised to see Sandy with her.

"Can we go home?" I asked.

When I got home, I found Kaitlin in the pool house.

"So, I told my dad that I was staying with Marissa and Summer." She said. "I'm kind of tired. Can we just sleep?"

"Sure." I agreed before we changed and got into bed.

So, I decided to make this a Halloween episode since the show never really did one. Things are getting intense between Rose, Vicki, and Summer. Please don't forget to review


	10. The Homecoming

It was Thanksgiving. I was in the kitchen. Rose was basically begging Kirsten not to cook. I heard that she wasn't the best cook, but was she really that bad that people had to beg her not to? Granted, I had never had anything that she had made, but there was no way it could be that bad, right?

"This is Rhiannon's first Thanksgiving with us and I want us to make dinner together as a family." Kirsten replied as I sipped my grape juice.

"Seriously, where's Rosa?" Rose questioned. I was pretty sure that they had given her the day off.

"Rosa is spending Thanksgiving with her own family." Kirsten explained. Rose grabbed her head. I had to admit that it was interesting to watch. "I, for one, am up to the challenge."

"Dad, please stop her." Rose begged.

"You sure you wanna do this, Honey?" Sandy asked with a sigh.

"No, we can't ruin Thanksgiving." Rose declared.

"Who said we are?" Kirsten asked. This was still less dysfunctional than any Thanksgiving I had ever had. "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday."

"My family was never really into the holidays." I explained. Usually one or more people would end up drunk.

"All the more reason to make it special." Kirsten proposed as Rose threw up her hands. "Now, are there any pans?"

"You're not exactly inspiring a lot of confidence, Darling" Sandy pointed out.

"We should start the turkey." Kirsten announced as she held the bird upside down. At that point, I realized that she had no idea what she was doing. We all took turns to get her away from any food. I felt bad, but I also didn't want diarrhea.

"You'll thank us." Rose told me.

"What am I supposed to do?" Kirsten asked as the phone rang. "I'll get that."

"You own the phone." Sandy complimented.

"Yes, I'll accept the charges." She stated. What did she mean charges? "Yes, she's right here."

Apparently someone was calling for me. I was a bit nervous because usually when someone wanted to talk to me, they called my cellphone.

"It's your brother." She explained. I had written to Trey and even sent him a picture of me, but I hadn't actually talked to him since I started transitioning.

"Hi, Trey." I declared. I decided to leave the room because I didn't want them eavesdropping. "Yeah, it's me. Do you really need me to do this today? I know I haven't seen you. I guess I can come. I love you, too. Bye."

"How's Trey?" Sandy asked as I reentered the kitchen. I expected that question. It seemed like they had stopped doing everything to wait for me to return.

"He's okay." I answered. "He wants me to visit him today. It's the holidays and he doesn't want to be alone."

"Can you blame him?" Sandy retorted.

"Are you going to go?" Kirsten replied.

"Is that alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, you should go see your brother." Sandy told me. I was kind of scared of going to a prison.

Later, it was just me and Rose in the kitchen.

"Do people actually make stuffing?" She asked.

"No, it only exists in movies." I quipped.

"You should probably get going soon." She told me.

"There's so much more that needs to be done." I replied.

"Well if you find enough to last three to five years, Trey will be out." She said.

"I know he wants something from and I'm really nervous about going back." I replied.

"Maybe he just wants to see his sister on Thanksgiving," She countered. "It would be the first time after all."

"You don't know Trey." I pointed out.

"That's because you never talk about him." She stated.

"There's not a lot to talk about." I shot back.

"He's your brother." She reminded me. "I can go with you if you want. I would like to meet him."

"You really wouldn't." I told her.

"Legally, we are all related now." She said. That wasn't how adoption worked.

"Someone has to keep your mom away from the food." I pointed out. "Besides, Vicki's coming over."

"Yes she is." She declared. I wasn't sure if I had won the bet. We hadn't even decided what the prize was. At that point my own phone began to ring. It was Kaitlin.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I'm trying to figure out a way out of spending Thanksgiving with your grandpa." She replied. "What are you doing today?"

"I'm going to see my brother in jail." I answered. "I don't have time to talk now."

I quickly got changed into a navy dress and red cardigan. I wanted to look nice but not too nice to the point that I would get mugged. I knew it might be a good idea to bring some mace with me. I then headed to Rose's room.

"I need to get going." I declared before I saw what she was giving me. "Trey doesn't like comics,."

"That's because he hasn't seen _The New Titans._ " Rose pointed out. I hadn't read that either. I then noticed that she had a bottle of perfume.

"I didn't take Vicki as the girl who likes girls who wear perfume." I stated.

"I wouldn't wear perfume for Vicki." She stated.

"Well you like her, don't you? You _like_ her." I teased.

"Suddenly, the idea of having a little sister isn't as appealing." She commented. "On Halloween, Summer attacked me with her lips. She swore she would kill me if I told anyone. She's got an interesting take on romance. Basically, the first sixteen years of my life, I have no women and now I have two."

"It's the boobs." I joked. "It's not like there are worse problems you could have."

"I wish I wasn't rubbing off on you." She declared.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. It was Jimmy, Marissa, and Kaitlin, the latter was wearing a white tank with grey cotton pleated miniskirt and a black wool unzipped jacket.

"We wanted to stop by before we went to our mom's." Marissa declared as I gave her a hug and Kaitlin a kiss. "So how has Thanksgiving been?"

"Can I see your brother with you. I need an excuse to get out of here." Kaitlin asked out of the blue.

"Let's go to the pool house and talk?" I suggested.

We did more than just talking. In fact, as soon as we got there, we started to kiss and touch each other.

"Are you sure that you want to come with me?" I asked. "I mean he is in jail, after all."

"Which is all the more reason that you shouldn't go alone." She argued. "Safety in numbers is better. Plus, I want to see where you grew up."

"Maybe you should tell your mom. I think despite her many, many flaws, she really does love you." I explained.

"I want to know more about you." She declared. "If there's anything about my childhood you want to know, I'll tell you."

"My life there really wasn't that great." I responded. "When you grow up dirt poor with abusive parents and don't feel comfortable in your own body, all you want to do is get out. The only reason that I'm seeing my brother is that he's the only member of my family was who there for me, but if you really want to come, you can come."

"I'll wait outside and meet you at the car." She said. Technically, I wasn't supposed to drive, but they were willing to let me go alone. As long as I drove carefully and didn't break any laws, I would probably be fine.

I then went back into the house.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to drive you?" Kirsten asked. I shook my head. "Okay. Here are the keys and I got something for Trey."

She presented me with a pie.

"Don't worry. It's store-bought." She assured me.

"Thanks." I responded as I took the pie and headed out to the car. She was already inside. I supposed Newport was one of those places you could leave the windows down.

"So, we might as well get going." I remarked.

"It helps if you turn the car on." She quipped. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No, you don't know how to get there and I'm pretty sure Kirsten wouldn't be okay with that." I replied.

I put the car in drive and began to drive to Chino. Within an hour, we were at the prison. I had the pie and the comic in hand. We got some visitor passes and headed inside.

"You know I hope that this will be the last time that I ever have to go to a prison." She declared.

"Your dad's going to be fine." I responded. I would think that the fact that he hadn't been charged with anything after several months meant that he wasn't going to be charged. We met him outside. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and a bloody lip.

"Wow, you look so beautiful." He told me before I gave him a hug.

"This is my girlfriend, Kaitlin." I replied nervously.

"I just can't believe that this is you." Trey remarked.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been here." I apologized.

"I heard that you've been doing pretty good for yourself. Those clothes don't look cheap." He commented. At that time, all I was thinking about was who he had gotten into a fight with.

"You don't look so good." I declared. I then decided to cut to the chase. "What do you want from me?"

"Can't a guy want to see his sister on Thanksgiving?" He asked. I looked at him. "Okay, I didn't want to have to call you, but I'm in trouble. I kind of owe some people six grand."

"How do you lose six grand?" I asked, trying not to raise my voice. Needless to say, I was pissed. I couldn't believe what he was doing to me.

"You know that I have bad luck." He replied. "The people I owe it to have friends in here that like to remind me about it. It keeps getting worse."

"I don't have that kind of money on me." I replied.

"I'm not asking for the money. I just need a favor from you." He declared.

Later, we were back in the car,

"So, where are we going now?" I questioned.

"I'm taking you to the bus station because my brother wants me to pick up a stolen car." I replied. "I have to pay back a debt that he owes. I know this sounds crazy, but he's my brother and I have to help him."

"There is no way that I'm letting you do this alone." She countered. "You're my girlfriend and if you're doing it, I'm doing it too."

I really couldn't help but love how she was so headstrong. It seemed like it could get her in trouble if she didn't think before she acted, but she seemed pretty good at that. She smiled at me.

"So, do you have any good Thanksgiving memories?" She asked. "My dad and I used to watch football together. My mom and Marissa have never been into sports."

"I'm hoping to make some nice memories of not getting arrested." I commented. "So does Rose inviting Vicki over for Thanksgiving count as winning the bet?"

"I think that would depend on how much kissing is involved?" Kaitlin remarked. "What does the winner get anyway?"

"The satisfaction of being victorious?" I questioned as I stopped in front of the house before her phone went off.

"Fuck." She cursed. "Marissa just texted me that my mom and Caleb came over and I didn't exactly tell her that I was going with you. This could not be worse."

"Yeah, it could." I pointed out before we got out of the car and I headed to the door. I hoped that I wouldn't be recognized. The door was answered by the last person that I wanted to answer it.

"Hi, I'm here to see Arturo." I declared. I really hoped that she wouldn't recognize me. I hadn't told her and didn't plan on doing it.

"Ryan?" She asked. Damn it. "That new city really has changed you."

"It's Rhiannon, Theresa." I corrected. "I need to see Arturo."

"Are you really going to just ask for my idiot brother and not explain where you've been for the past few months or why you're a girl now?" She questioned. If I could get away with it, yes I was.

"I'm Kaitlin Cooper, her girlfriend." The brunette declared as she held me possessively. "And for your information, she has always been a girl."

"She wasn't when she was with me." Theresa pointed out. "I lived next door."

"Well maybe you weren't that close." Kaitlin countered.

"Where's Arturo?" I repeated. It looked like the two of them were about to fight.

Theresa took us inside of the house. I hoped that she wouldn't out me to her whole family.

She did. The first thing that she did was tell her mom. She did give me a hug, but it was weird.

"I need to see Arturo." I declared. I really wanted to get out of the uncomfortable situation that Theresa had put me in.

"Are you here for the car?" Arturo asked as he walked into the room. I couldn't help but wonder if his mom didn't know it was stolen, or just didn't care. Arturo was talented. There were probably things that he could do that weren't illegal.

"This is Kaitlin." I introduced.

"Come on. Let's go." Arturo declared as Kaitlin and I headed to the car with him. I wished that I had just given him the money because it would be a lot less embarrassing than what I had just been through. I had to tell Trey that I would probably never come back.

"So what's the story between you and Theresa?" Kaitlin asked.

"We went out on a few dates in middle school, but we were never serious," I explained.

"This car is hot. Your brother must owe someone a lot of money." Arturo explained as he pulled the tarp off of it. "That dude must be crazier than he is. So why are you back here doing Trey's bitch work? You've got a sexy new body and you don't need any of this. I know he was my best friend, but the guy is trouble."

"I've noticed." I commented as Arturo got in the front seat.

"You don't have to do this." Arturo pointed out. "You've got this cushy new life. What's Trey gonna do?"

"I just want to get this over with." I told him. Also, getting rid of the car would make it so he didn't get in trouble for stealing it. "I want to get it over with and leave."

"You're a lot better person than he is." Arturo declared before I got a text from Rose saying that Summer had come over. It looked like I would lose the bet now. He got the car running and I got in the driver's seat.

I was glad that I was dressed like I was because I looked like I could afford a car like that. There would be questions of what I was doing in Chino with a car like it, but I looked the part. I wished that I had some sunglasses because they would hide my nervousness.

"So did you anything like school plays or the arts when you were younger?" She asked.

"I didn't want to do any of that because I couldn't play the girl parts." I replied. "I don't want to keep talking. I just want to get rid of this car and be done with it. You know your mom is looking for you and she's going to blame me for taking you here. I just want to get you home already."

"I don't want to go home. I want to stay with you." She replied.

"Kaitlin, we're teenagers." I told her. "There's no way that you could move in with me. I knew I needed to change the subject fast. "So, I'm pretty sure that Rose is two-timing Summer and Vicki right now."

"When did Rose become such a womanizer?" Kaitlin joked as we arrived at the destination.

I sat in the car outside. No one was there outside. I didn't want to do it and I wasn't even sure if I could trust the guy that Trey owed money to. I still had my mace, but I kind of wished that I had more. I was putting Kaitlin in a life-threatening situation and her mom definitely wouldn't be happy about that. I would probably not tell anyone about what happened, probably not even Rose because there was a risk that she could tell someone else.

"I'm delivering this car for Trey Atwood." I declared. The owner was a shady bald guy with a beard. He was eating some noodles.

"It's hard to believe that Trey could pull this off considering what a fucking idiot he is." He declared.

"Does this mean that Trey is off the hook or not?" I questioned.

"Well there's something that we call interest Sweet Cheeks." He declared with a perverted grin. I reached into my purse and sprayed him and the two of us started to run. Fortunately, we didn't have to go that far because it turned out that Arturo had followed us. He drove us back to his house and we decided to get back on the road.

I was still breathing quite heavily as we drove. I hoped that my nervousness wouldn't cause me to do anything like run a stop sign or go too fast. I was glad that it was over and I also knew that I was never coming back. No one could pay me to come back to Chino ever again.

I couldn't help but wonder what was happening at home. I wondered if there was a disaster in the kitchen. I couldn't help but wonder if things always went wrong when you had a bunch of people in a house. I figured that there was no way that Rose was smart enough to keep it from Vicki and Summer that she had invited both of them over. I had a feeling that one or both of them was going to hit her and then there were going to leave angrily. Hopefully Rose would learn something from it and never do it again.

I went to the prison to tell Trey that it was done and I was never going to do anything for him again. He was grateful even after everything that I had gone through. I was going to make sure that he paid me back for this someday.

"Now do you see why I didn't want to bring you with me?" I questioned.

"I wonder what's going on at home right now." She declared. "I know my mom and dad are in the same house and Marissa is probably bored out of her mind. Rose probably has her sworn to secrecy so she won't tell Summer. Maybe we should change the bet. If Rose dates Summer, you win and if she dates Vicki, I win. Winner gets 30 bucks."

"How about loser pays for dinner?" I suggested. "That is if you're ever let out of the house again. I need to remind you that what happens in Chino stays in Chino."

"I am so hungry right now." She stated. "Do you think they would mind if we got Chinese?"

"We might as well before you're locked in the tower." I responded. "I don't really like turkey that much anyway."

Suddenly, my phone began to ring. It was Sandy.

"Are you close?" He asked.

"Yeah, and yes I have Kaitlin with me." I replied. "I'm sorry we didn't tell anyone about it."

"How would you feel about picking up some takeout?" He asked. "The bird is kaput and everyone's pissed off and Rose lost both of her dates."

We walked into the house with a bunch of takeout. I was pretty sure that they were not only thrilled to see Kaitlin but also that he had food.

"Honey, I have been worried sick about you." Julie declared. "Why didn't you tell us where you were going?"

"Julie, it's Thanksgiving." Caleb interrupted.

We walked into Rose's room. Apparently, Marissa had left with Summer. She was on her bed with her horse.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Definitely not playing with Captain Oats." She told me. "I screwed up."

"Can we sit with you and Captain Oats?" Kaitlin requested.

"You'll figure this out." I replied as we took a seat.

So there was the Chino part. Theresa is played Camila Mendes (aka someone actually Hispanic.) Also Rose learned the problem with having two girlfriends. Please don't forget to review.


	11. The Secret

Sandy and I were in the kitchen when Rose walked in wearing her pajamas. I was wearing a red tee that with BYE in white letters on and jean shorts with embroidered flowers on them.

"Do I have a fever? I think I have a fever or the chills." She stated. Yeah, girl chills, but you couldn't get chills without a fever. "Since recently, I've been feeling sick."

"You're not feeling well?" Sandy asked before Rose let out one of the fakest coughs I had ever heard.

"Maybe it's the Summer flu?" I suggested. No one laughed at that. I thought it was funny.

"Yeah, it's December, but it's possible." She agreed. I couldn't help but wonder how she didn't get it. I decided to try again.

"You should take Vick's Dayquil for it." I quipped. Still nothing. Tough room.

"Do you not want to go to school?" Sandy asked.

"Yes, Dad, I want to go to school." Rose responded. "I am just worried about infecting others."

"You're right. Maybe we should take you to the emergency room just to be sure." Sandy retorted.

"Or I could stay home and try to sleep it off." Rose suggested. At that point, I decided subtlety wasn't working.

"You know what else is a good idea?" I retorted. I really wasn't in the mood for games anymore. "Going to school and apologizing to Summer and Vicki for two-timing the two of them."

"No, and no why would I do that?" She asked. Well, it proves that you're not a bitch, for one.

"Oh, the _Summer_ flu. I just got it." Sandy replied with a chuckle. He then gave me a pat on the back. "That was good."

"It's not my fault that they both tried to kiss me on Thanksgiving." Rose argued. "What was I supposed to do, not kiss them and hurt their feelings?"

"It seems like you already did." Sandy pointed out.

"Perhaps, but what about me? They attacked me with their lips. I am the victim here." She replied. She was making me want to hit her.

"Hey, how come you're not dressed. You're going to be late." Kirsten declared as she walked into the kitchen wearing her robe.

"And so are you." Sandy replied. "Or is that what women wear to yoga-lates these days? Taryn called saying today was the first day of your yoga-lates workshop and you can't be late."

"I don't know if I'm gonna go. I'm not feeling well." She declared. I could see where Rose got it from.

"See, it's contagious." Rose reasoned.

"You know, Honey, you might still be a little hungover." Sandy remarked as she got some coffee.

"From what?" Kirsten asked in offense.

"Probably from getting drunk and passing out on Thanksgiving." Rose remarked. She didn't have any room to judge.

"Hey, I had two glasses of wine." Kirsten argued. That wasn't true. "Okay, maybe three and I'm sure that Julie Cooper has spread all town that Kirsten Cohen has a drinking problem."

"That's why you have to go to yoga-lates." Sandy told her. "Otherwise they'll assume you're sleeping off a hangover."

"And you need to go to school and face Summer and Vicki or they'll think you're afraid." I added. I was glad to be on the winning side.

"Hey, I'm not afraid of Summer and Vicki." She argued. I then reminded of her of Summer's rage blackouts. "Okay, I'm not afraid of Vicki."

"So, you're going to school." I declared.

"And you're going to yoga-lates." Sandy told Kirsten.

"You just like saying that." Kirsten replied. I couldn't help but wonder what a combination of yoga and Pilates would be like.

"Yoga-lates? I do." Sandy agreed before he looked at me. "Yoga-lates."

"Yoga-lates." I repeated.

"I wanna know why these two are so smug." Kirsten said to her daughter.

"Because for once they've done nothing wrong." Rose pointed out. I hadn't done anything wrong since I had gotten here. Okay, there was the Donna thing, but that was more Rose's fault.

"That's true." Sandy declared before he clinked his mug against mine. "Here's to you."

"Back at you." I replied before I took a sip of my juice. It was good juice.

"Enjoy it, because knowing the two of you, it won't last." Kirsten replied. Again, it was more likely Rose would get in trouble than I would.

Unfortunately, because of the delay, Rose and I got to school later than usual and I didn't have time to see Kaitlin before class.

"So, this week will be your first group acting exercise. I will give you and your partner a scene and you will perform it in front of the class." Ava declared.

"Can we choose our partners?" Hadley questioned.

"When as an actor will you get to choose your partner?" Ava countered. "Unless you're involved in the production somehow, you usually won't. Sometimes you will have to act with someone that you might not like. I, for one, did not like playing Angelina Jolie's daughter in _Homeless_ but I still did it."

She then started to go down the list of names.

"Rhiannon, you will be working with Holly." Ava declared. I then looked over to Holly. I forgot that she was in the class because she never really participated much unless it was mandatory. "You two will be working on a scene from one of my favorite movies: _DEBS._ Also, I will say that no one is allowed to rehearse here after school. Part of this assignment is going out of your comfort zone."

At lunch, I went and sat with Kaitlin and Rose while Hadley joined us.

"I can't believe you're with Holly." Rose remarked.

"Why is that a bad thing? Everyone knows where lives." Hadley pointed out. Apparently, Holly threw the best parties in the whole school.

"There's some not so good history between the two of them." Kaitlin explained. "But your teacher does have a point. You don't always get to choose who you're acting with. Who are you with, Hadley?"

"Marcy Ross. We're doing _High School Musical._ " Hadley explained. I already knew that but Kaitlin and Rose didn't.

"I like Marcy. She's nice." Rose replied.

"You need to stop talking about other girls, especially ones who aren't Vicki or Summer." I told her. "Make up your mind before you lose both of them."

"Hey, I'm the victim here." Rose stated.

"Don't tell us. Tell Summer and Vicki." Kaitlin told her.

"Your lives would make some great stories for my dad's show." Hadley commented.

"So, what are you and Holly doing?" Kaitlin asked me. This wasn't going to be easy.

"We're doing _DEBS._ " I answered. "She's going to be Amy and I'm Lucy."

"You're doing a romantic scene with her?" Kaitlin asked. She sounded worried.

"It's not romantic. It's just flirty." I replied.

"Who knows maybe you'll see a different side of her and become friends." Rose interrupted.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"No, that would be weird." Rose replied. "I mean what would you two even talk about?"

"Well, there's soccer." I pointed out.

Later, Kaitlin and I were in the bathroom when Vicki walked in. She didn't walk in on anything because we weren't sleezy enough to make out in the bathroom. We were just working on our makeup.

"Were you talking to Rose?" She asked.

"Well she is my sister." I pointed out. "I can't exactly avoid her."

"What did she say about me?" The British girl questioned.

"I am not getting in the middle of this. We are not getting in the middle of this, but she didn't say anything about you." I declared. "I can tell you where she parks the car, though."

At that point, Summer walked into the bathroom. The two of them exchanged looks and I was suddenly uncomfortable.

"I'm done." I declared as I dragged Kaitlin out. I didn't even care that my makeup wasn't finished.

"It doesn't sound like there's a catfight going on in there." Kaitlin replied.

"All I can say is that that is a hell of a love triangle." I replied. "I don't know if I could date a transgender girl, mostly because I want to be with you so much."

"So, I'm pretty sure that my mom is telling people that yours is a drunk." Kaitlin replied. Well my mom is a drunk, but I knew she was talking about Kirsten, who I was pretty sure wasn't. Also, that wasn't a nice thing to say about your boyfriend's daughter.

After school, I decided to go to Holly's house. Well I didn't decide it then. It was what we agreed on. However, before I left, Rose told me that apparently Summer and Vicki were friends now. I rang the doorbell and it was answered by her mom. She looked like an older version of Holly with brown hair, right down to the eyebrows. It was probably something genetic.

"You must be Rhiannon." She said. "Holly got just got here too. She'll be right down."

At that point, Greg Fischer, also known as the guy who attacked Jimmy at cotillion, walked in. I hoped that he wouldn't remember me. I had no idea what was going on with the assault charges.

"This is Holly's friend, Rhiannon." Her mom introduced. That was a bit of an overstatement. "They're doing a project together for Theatre."

"Oh I did some theatre when I was younger." Greg declared. He seemed like he didn't remember me.

"Hi, Daddy." Holly declared after she came down the stairs. She then gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before looking at me. "We should go upstairs."

"So do you think we should get costumes?" I asked.

"If we do, they need to be as accurate as possible." Holly said. "We can't get something generic."

"I have to say, I'm impressed by how much thought you put into this." I admitted.

"Most people think that I'm just a dumb blonde, but I'm not." She said. "So when was the last time, you saw the movie. We should do that first."

"Maybe we should go through a run without seeing it first." I declared. "I printed off a copy of the script."

We went through the lines a few times, but it didn't feel right.

"I don't think this is working." I declared.

"That's why we should watch the movie first." Holly pointed out. "There's a DVD player in my dad's office. You can get it while I find the DVD."

"Do you want to talk about what happened with Marissa?" I questioned.

"I know what I did was wrong. I was just so mad when I found out that she was dating Luke too. I wanted to get even. Had I had known about her parents, I probably wouldn't have done it."

I went into the office and started to look through the room for the DVD player. I opened one of the drawers and stared what was inside with a look of shock on my face.

"Holly, you need to see this." I declared seriously.

"What is it?" She asked as she entered the room and looked inside the drawer. "Oh my God, is that what I think it is."

"It looks like it." I declared as I saw the pictures. I felt like I needed to wash my eyes. "We need to tell someone about this, probably the police."

"But he's my dad." Holly stated with a hurt expression on her face. She looked like someone had just stolen her puppy.

"I understand that, but if someone finds out that we knew about this and didn't tell anyone, both of us could get sent to juvie and your mom could go to jail with him." I explained.

"Let me talk to my mom first." She requested. "You should go home. I promise I'll deal with it."

The next morning, I met up with Kaitlin. I was wearing a dress with a white bodice and pink tulle skirt with a denim jacket tied at the waist. She was wearing a navy sweater with a yellow midi skirt.

"So how did it go with Holly yesterday?" She asked. "You don't appear injured in any way."

"It went okay." I stammered.

"What happened?" She asked me in concern.

"Why do you think s…something happened?" I replied. She just glared at me. "I can't tell you. All I can say is that we found something really bad. She said that she knew what she did to Marissa was wrong though."

"Rhiannon, you need to tell me what you found." She told me.

"I told Holly that I wouldn't tell anyone until she had the chance to talk to her." I explained. "I know that you won't tell anyone, but I can't tell you."

"Fine." She agreed. "I just hope that you don't get in trouble for whatever this is. I don't want to see you hurt."

We then met up with Rose in the café.

"So, did anyone get shot?" Rose asked.

"That is not funny." I warned her. "How about we talk about Summer and Vicki. You love talking about them? I want to hear about your crazy adventures."

"They came out of the bathroom together and then they went to the library." Rose explained. It seemed like I had successfully distracted her from it. She continued as we walked through the line. "These are two people who hate each other brought together by their even greater hatred of me. It's like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader teaming up to beat the emperor."

"Vader was also Luke's father." I pointed out before I noticed Holly in the hallway. I walked over to her. "Hey, did you talk to your mom?"

"I've got this under control. Just learn your lines and I'll learn mine." She shouted at me. I recognized her being defensive. She then ran off.

"Seriously, Rhiannon, what happened?" Kaitlin demanded as she came out into the hall.

"I made a promise." I reminded her. "When this gets out, you'll understand why I am not telling you."

Later in the day, I was found by Rose in the hallway.

"Did you hear the news about Holly's dad?" She asked. "Police raided his house. Turns out that he's a total pedo. They found child porn all over his house."

I saw her in the hallway as more people started talking about it.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"My mom is dumping him." She explained. "I guess the rumor mill spreads fast."

At that point, Kaitlin came over and I had never seen look so angry.

"Was this what you wouldn't tell me?" She questioned. "You didn't want to tell me that you found kid porn at her house?"

"I asked her not to." Holly interrupted. She was starting to cry. "She's good. The fact that she didn't tell makes her a good person. She could have told everyone or the police, but she didn't. Hold onto her, Kaity, she's a good."

She then walked away. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I knew things were only going to get worse.

"Kaity?" I asked in amusement.

"It was my nickname when I was younger." She said. "At least it sounds better than Mini Coop."

That night dinner was quiet. Something was obviously up between Sandy and Kirsten.

"You know after all these years of Holly being a bitch to me, I can't believe this." Rose stated. "This is crazy."

"It's not funny." Sandy told her. "Their marriage is over and her life is never going to be the same."

"Mary-Ann is already filing for divorce." Kirsten added. "Greg is gonna be in jail for a while."

"You know none of this would've happened if I hadn't gone over there." I declared.

"Don't blame yourself." Sandy replied. "This would have gotten out sooner or later, better you than some drunk some teenager."

"I don't understand how you could keep something like that from someone so long, especially someone that you're married to." I responded.

"You'd be surprised." Sandy said with some added spice. Something was definitely up there. I hoped it wasn't too serious. "But secrets will always come out."

"And some marriages can handle it and some can't." Kirsten added,

"I'm sure that he'll be fine now that he's a sex offender." Rose quipped.

I couldn't help but notice that Holly wasn't at school the next day. I hoped that she wasn't transferring, not only because I needed her for the assignment. I hoped that her mom didn't decide to run from this. Sometimes you just had to weather the storm and when it was over, there was a rainbow.

Rose meanwhile told me that she planned on apologizing to Summer and Vicki. I just hoped that she wouldn't make it about herself.

"I want to see Holly after school today." I told Kaitlin. "You can come with me if you want."

"You really are a good one." She said. "Yes, I will go with you. I think I can forgive her for what she did to my sister. I know what she's going through. It's ironic because her dad is the one who started all of this."

"Do you think he wanted the money to buy more?" I questioned.

"He probably did." She declared. I then got a text that said her was going with Summer on Saturday and Vicki on Sunday.

After school, we went to Holly's house and rang the doorbell. She answered it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. I imagined she was surprised to see us.

"We came in to check up on you and see if you're okay." I answered. "Do you think we can come in and talk?"

"I wanted to thank you for keeping you word." She said as we walked into the house. "I just don't know what I'm going to do now."

I decided to give her something that she really needed, a hug. We then saw Mary-Ann crying.

As soon as she saw her, Holly ran out the door crying. Kaitlin and I ran after her. We ended up following her to this old baseball field where she had some beers. She looked like she needed to vent.

"My whole life has been a lie." She declared. "I thought my dad loved me, but he only loved me for my body. Yeah, he never touched me, but he always wanted me to look my best."

"I suppose I owe it to you." I declared. "I don't want to make it about me, but I want to tell you that I'm transgender. You can get a new start on life. And it I think you dad did love you, even if it wasn't for the right reasons. At least he was there. And you don't know if he lusted after you specifically."

"Do you want to get some ice cream with us?" Kaitlin suggested. "I mean beer is good, but it doesn't help you the way that chocolate does."

"I would like that." She agreed.

We then went to the ice cream parlor and she got a nice sundae. I personally went for the strawberry shortcake and I did not regret it.

"So, do you think there's a possibility that Marissa might want to take me back?" Holly asked.

"I don't think that would be good for either of you right now." I declared. "You both have a lot of issues and neither of you should date until you get them figured out."

I then reached into my purse and gave her Dr. Carter's card. At that point, Kaitlin's phone rang.

"Hey, Dad." She greeted him. "Really, that's great? Okay, I love you. I'll see you soon."

The two of us looked over since her phone wasn't on speaker.

"My dad just told me that he's not going to jail." She beamed. "Not only has some of the money he owes been rescinded, but Caleb bought the house."

"So, Holly, would you like to sleep over tonight? We could rehearse if you want or watch the movie or do whatever." I replied.

"Thanks." She told me. "You know I probably wouldn't have been upset if you told her. I knew Kaity wouldn't tell."

I took her to my house and told Sandy and Kirsten that I offered to let her stay in the pool house with me after they called her mom.

The next day, she went to school with us. We stood outside including, Rose and Marissa.

"This is going to be weird." She said. "Everyone is staring at me."

"Well you are very attractive." I quipped. "Look it's better to be an outcast and have friends than be someone whose friends will turn on them so quickly."

"Are you sure I can't just hit the beach and let people forget?" She asked me.

"It doesn't work. I'm still the girl from Chino who stole a car." I explained, even though I was only an accomplice in the theft.

"And I'm still the girl whose dad stole everyone's money." Kaitlin told her.

"Same with trying to my overdose." Marissa added.

"And I'm still…well I'm Seth Cohen to most people. It doesn't matter that I'm a girl now." Rose replied.

"This is going to suck." Holly declared.

"Maybe it won't." I argued. "By the way, we have to have the scene ready to perform tomorrow."

So, I was going to keep the original storyline, but I figured Luke's dad being gay wouldn't be as big of a deal in 2017. I then decided that I wanted to redeem Holly instead. Plus she'd probably be more likely to take a theatre class. Mary-Ann is played by Jennifer Connely. Please don't forget to review.


	12. The Best Chrismukkah ever

I was in the house as Rose held up a candy cane and a menorah. She was wearing an ugly sweater and black leggings, even though it was like 80 degrees outside. I couldn't help but think that she was probably sweating under it.

"So do you want the menorah or candy cane?" She asked. "Christmas or Chanukah."

Well I didn't really know anything about Chanukah, so I didn't know what to say. Were they really letting decide what holiday to celebrate? That seemed a little weird.

"Don't answer that because in this house we celebrate Chrismukkah." She told me. What?

"How do you spell that?" I asked.

"It's a new holiday that's sweeping the nation." She explained as Sandy and Kirsten brought a tree in. "Or at least the living room. You need to wear this."

She put a Santa hat on my head as I went to help with tree. Apparently, she had decided that she would supervise. I sighed.

"That's perfect. A+." She stated.

"Thanks for the help." Sandy quipped.

"We didn't really know how to raise Rose." Kirsten remarked. "So we let her raise herself."

"And in doing so, I created the greatest holiday of all time drawing on the best that Christianity and Judaism have to offer." Rose boasted with a wide grin.

"But why the fuck do you call it Chrismukkah?" I asked as I noticed Kirsten glaring at me. "Sorry."

"Allow me to elaborate. You see doe my father here, a poor struggling Jew growing up in the Bronx, Christmas meant Chinese food and a movie." She explained as she grabbed Sandy's shoulder. She then moved over to Kirsten. "And for my mom, Waspy McWasp, a meant a tree, presents, and all of the trimmings. You can see how there were a few differences."

"Is there some kind of Santa Rabbi?" I questioned. She glared at me. "I'm not making fun. I really want to know."

"No, but there ate eight days of presents, followed by one day of many presents." She declared. "So what do you think?"

"I think it sounds great for you guys." I replied.

"For you too." Sandy added.

"Yeah, dip a toe in the Chrismukkah pool." Rose urged.

"Isn't there some kind of Atwood family tradition that you could incorporate into Rose's uber-holiday?" Kirsten asked.

"Short answer: no." I answered. "Long answer, the reason I wanted to be part of this family was because my family sucked. The only memories I have are the scars, both literal and emotional."

"Well this year will be different." Sandy promised.

"You'll get new memories and it'll be great." Kirsten added.

"I guess I can see what Chrismukkah has to offer," I replied.

"That's the spirit." Rose replied as she gave me a hug. I squirmed as I tried to escape.

Once I was free, I took out a shower. When I came out, I found that Rose was decorating the pool house. How had she managed to get so much up? I was wearing a black scoop-neck tee and a red leather miniskirt.

"I was in there for 15 minutes. How did you manage to turn this place into Santa's workshop?" I asked.

"I see someone took down the wreath that I put on the door." She stated.

"It fell." I lied. I then noticed that she had something. "What is that?"

"It is a starter pack of Rose Cohen music." She declared as she listed some various indie and hipster bands. "Summer and Vicki will love them both equally."

"Are you seriously getting them the same gift?" I questioned. "Summer hated your music during the trip. You really should get them things that they like."

"I'm crafty." She stated.

"This will not go well." I told her.

"I choose to ignore your negatively." She replied as she began to wrap.

"You have to choose." I responded. "You can't have two girlfriends. It doesn't work."

"I don't have to choose on Chrismukkah. There is no choosing on Chrismukkah." She argued.

"Please tell me that you didn't get me anything." I retorted.

"No." She stated. "Come on, Sis, don't be a Grinch,"

We then walking into the kitchen and found Kirsten was making a list. I couldn't help but wonder if she was checking it twice.

"Hey, Rhiannon, what's your shoe size?" She asked me.

"Seven, why?" I responded. She made it sound like she was getting me heels. "Are you getting me shoes?"

"No, why would you think that?" Kirsten denied flimsily.

"You said no gifts." I reminded her.

"What we meant was no gifts for us." She stated before Sandy walked in with his phone in hand.

"Well Chrismukkah is ruined." He declared.

"No, Chrismukkah is invincible and magical and perfect." Rose babbled. I was pretty sure that she was broken.

"Your father refused the latest settlement and wants to go to trial." Sandy explained.

"That's not what he said yesterday." Kirsten declared. "He said if you met his offer…"

"Well as of this morning, Ebenezer Scrooge decided that he wants to go to court, which means I'm going to have to spend the holidays going through paperwork and preparing for the trial."

"Chrismukkah is ruined." Kirsten agreed as Rose gasped. "I promise not all holidays are like this around here."

"Stop! Don't give up on the miracle of Chrismukkah!" Rose shouted with her voice cracking. "You'll see. You'll all see. Chrismukkah will not be stopped, not this year, not ever."

I decided that it would be a good idea to see Kaitlin. She must have been thinking the same thing because she was at the door. She was wearing a white dress with a leather jacket.

"I was just coming to see you." I told her before I gave her a kiss.

"Well, here I am." She declared. "So, Marissa wants to skip Christmas. I need your help convincing her not to."

"We can do that at school." I told her as we started to walk to school with Rose. "So, Rose has this alternative holiday if you don't want to do Christmas."

"Please call it Chrismukkah." Rose corrected.

"What the fuck is a Chrismukkah?" Kaitlin asked. "What are you going to do about Summer and Vicki? You need to choose and I think you should pick Summer."

"Well they are both coming to the party and neither is my date, which both of them know," Rose answered. "I am snowflakes and latkes here."

"You know snowflakes are more of a winter thing." I told her.

Suddenly, both Summer and Vicki showed up. They didn't look very happy to see each other.

"Ladies, I think we should meet there at whatever time you so choose." Rose declared. Neither of them seemed too happy about that sentence.

"You're going to need a Chrismukkah miracle." I stated before Kaitlin and I went to get smoothies.

"So, I have a small amount of money that I can use to get a gift for you." She told me. "Are there any movies you would like?"

"Maybe you should get something for your dad." I suggested. "I need to be upfront with you and tell you that I am terrible at picking gifts for people."

"You could give me a check or a gift card." She offered. "I think you'll get better in the future. So, we're not going to have to see your brother again, are we?"

"No. I made it very clear to him that I wasn't coming." I promised her. "Though, there is one gift that I know that I can give you and you'll like."

"That is not an acceptable gift because I can have that anytime." She replied. "It's too bad that I can't do the same to you. So have you thought about when you want to have this surgery?"

"Well, for starters, it's up to Sandy and Kirsten to agree with me whenever I decide." I pointed out. I don't know enough about it right now and I think that it's too soon for any of that."

As we were leaving, we met up with Marissa.

"I hate Christmas." She replied with a big scowl.

"Come on. Don't be a scrooge." Kaitlin replied. "You used to love Christmas."

"That was before Mom and Dad broke up." Marissa argued. "Now we have two Christmases and no fun."

"There's a holiday party that we can go to and have a good time." I offered.

"Yeah, Marissa, if Rhiannon can get into the holiday spirit without having any good memories, so can you." Kaitlin declared. "How about you two go shopping because she doesn't know what to get me?"

That led to the two of us going to the mall together. It was probably the first time that we had been alone together since I first got here. We tried on some makeup and I noticed a woman with a dog wearing antlers. I couldn't help but wonder if his name was Max or it was an even a male.

"So what should I get her?" I asked.

"It doesn't have to be anything spectacular." She replied.

"Are you upset about Christmas because you don't have anyone to share it with?" I inquired.

"No," She said. "I'm fine with being single. Everyone just cheats anyway."

"Everyone was does not cheat." I declared as I noticed something peculiar. She then stopped in front of a window and saw a mannequin wearing a royal blue lace dress with a fringe hem.

"That's what you should get her." She said.

"I saw you put that Apple Watch in your bag." I replied. She had grabbed the display model. I wasn't sure how no one else noticed. "Stealing things will only get you into trouble. Give it to me."

She handed me the watch and I went to the counter.

"Excuse me. My friend wanted to try this on, but there was no one here so she took it off and then she forgot about it. I'm sorry for the confusion. Please don't call security on us." I replied. It felt good being good. I probably also had the advantage of being cute and petite. "I'd also like to buy one in the blue."

I also bought the dress and something to wear to the party. I still couldn't help but be concerned about Marissa shoplifting.

That night, I was wearing the black sweater dress that I had bought. However, Rose came in before I could zip it up. She was wearing an emerald velvet long-sleeved dress herself. She looked good.

"Good, you can zip me." I declared as put my back towards her. I couldn't help but notice that Trey got me a gift. How did he get me something from prison?

"So did you get any gifts while you were out?" She asked.

"I got something for Kaitlin and Marissa." I replied. "Just give me a list of new comics and I'll make sure to get you at least one of them."

"How was shopping with Marissa?" She asked me.

"I caught her trying to shoplift." I answered. I still wasn't sure what to do about it.

"That is weird." She commented. "Have you told Kaitlin?"

"I kind of want to tell her mom, but only because I'm worried about her." I replied. "What do you think?"

"I think telling Kaitlin first would be a better idea." She responded. "I got you something,."

She then produced a stocking with my name on it. I couldn't believe it.

"I…I've never had one of these before." I replied with a tear in my eye. "Thank you. I just need to finish my makeup and then I'll be ready."

"Well, if you're going to be doing any more of that, you might want to forego mascara." She quipped. I rolled my eyes. Now that was the Rose I knew.

I went into the living room and both Summer and Vicki were there.

"Hi, Summer, Vicki." I greeted them. There were both wearing some nice dresses.

"Hey, Rhiannon." They reciprocated simultaneously. It was a little bit creepy to be honest.

"I think you two need to let Rose choose." I remarked before adding something. "And she doesn't have to choose tonight."

When we got to the party, I met up with Kaitlin and hugged her. She was wearing the dress I got her. I knew it was a bit early, but tonight was the best night. She looked so sexy in it.

"I have something that I need to tell you." I declared. "Did Marissa happen to say anything about what happened on our shopping trip today?"

"No." She replied. She was probably wondering where I was going with it.

"Well I have something that you need to know." I said. "Marissa tried to steal an Apple watch. I think we need to tell your mom because I'm concerned about her."

"I think I might be the only normal one in this family." Kaitlin replied with a sigh. "Marissa's going to hate us if we tell my mom."

"Well we can't just let her get away with it." I pointed out. "I know that she stole it because you don't have money, I even bought it for her, but this is too much."

"Okay, we'll tell my mom." She agreed. I couldn't help but notice Santa at the party. I hoped he wouldn't get drunk. I also noticed that Rose was trying to hide from Summer and Vicki.

"Hide me." She told us.

"Okay, maybe you should choose tonight." I replied. "I think it should be Vicki."

"I think it should be Summer." Kaitlin retorted.

"Okay, not helping you two." Rose cut us off.

"I think we should dance." I declared as I grabbed her hand and took her to the dancefloor. I got into waltz position.

"I can't believe you remembered that." She replied. She then sighed romantically. "We've never danced before."

"We've never had the chance." I declared as we moved to the music.

"Maybe we should talk to Marissa first before we squeal to my mom." Kaitlin suggested as she moved her feet. She almost stepped on mine. "Sorry, I'm not very good of a dancer. Let's go find Marissa now."

She was over standing by the balcony.

"Hey, how are you doing?' I asked.

"I'm fine." Marissa answered. I couldn't help but think she looked drunk. "I feel better now that you're here."

"Marissa, I know about the mall." Kaitlin replied. However, before we could say more, Julie showed up.

"Marissa, you haven't said hello to Caleb yet." She stated.

"That's because he was talking to other people and I didn't want to interrupt." Marissa replied.

"Well he's ready now." Julie declared. At that point, the two of them started arguing. If that was her without knowing, I could only wonder what things would be like once she did know.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Marissa announced.

"I need to tell you something." I told Julie. She looked at me with interest. "Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I caught her trying to steal from the mall. I think she needs help. I just ask that you don't make a scene."

"I'll talk to her father and we will deal with this." Julie promised. "Thank you for telling me."

She then walked away and I looked at Kaitlin.

"You know being good doesn't feel so good anymore." I commented. "I hope I made the right move."

"I don't think there was another one." She retorted. "I think I might move back next door so Marissa doesn't decided to kill me in my sleep."

"Hey, have you guys seen Rose?" Vicki asked.

"We can help you look for her." I offered.

We then went upstairs and to our shock, Rose was making out with Summer. Rose had her dress half-open and Summer was dressed like Wonder Woman.

"Vicki, I can explain." Rose remarked.

"You're Wonder Woman?" Vicki asked in surprise.

"Yeah, so." Summer replied with a blush.

"You look smashing." Vicki replied before she left.

I couldn't believe how hot Summer looked myself. It was turning me on a little. I thought that I should leave with Kaitlin, but couldn't look away from the drama that was unfolding.

"This is not the bathroom." Holly interrupted.

"How are you doing, Holly?" I asked her.

"Well I just saw Marissa in the hallway, but I'm okay." Holly replied. We looked at her. "Oh, I guess you didn't know about that. She looked super wasted and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with me."

Kaitlin and I went to find her, but she ended up finding us first. The first thing that she did was put her mouth on mine. Kaitlin angrily threw her sister off of me. I hoped a fight wasn't about to break out.

"Get off my girlfriend." Kaitlin commanded. "You smell like Russia and you look horrible."

"Well you two told Mom about what happened at the store today." Marissa slurred. "How could you do that to me?"

"Because you need help!" I responded. "You're drunk at an office party. I was going to give you Christmas present here tonight. I bought that watch for you since you wanted it so much. Maybe when you stop being a wreck, we can be friends."

"I'm just having fun." She said.

"Well we don't want to have fun with you." Kaitlin declared. "The last time you had fun was in Mexico."

"I'm outta here." Marissa declared.

"There is no way that you're driving." I told her.

"I have enough people in my life telling me what to do." Marissa remarked. "I don't need it from you two."

We ran after her. We noticed her getting into her car. I couldn't believe that the valet had given her keys considering that she was obviously drunk.

"Marissa, stop." I told her.

She started to move forward and Kaitlin decided to stand in front of her car. It was a risky move but it got her to stop, except it didn't. She tried backing up and instead she backed into someone's car. She then started crying in the front seat.

Kaitlin and I got into her car. Kaitlin was driving, but Marissa did leave insurance info. She reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle of vodka that she had been drinking earlier. It was almost empty.

"You have to be fucking kidding me." Kaitlin remarked.

"You're driving." Marissa pointed out.

"Only because you're too drunk." I argued. At that point, I saw some bright lights and heard a siren. Well, this just got worst.

"What can I do for you officer?" Kaitlin asked nervously.

"Your taillight is broken. I need to see your license and registration." The officer declared.

"Well, here's the thing. I don't have one." Kaitlin admitted. The officer looked at us. "I'm 15. This is my sister's car. She hit a pole at this Christmas party we were at and I realized that she must have drunk the wrong eggnog. I just wanted to get her home."

"Just go straight home and make sure that you get that light fixed." He said before he walked off. I couldn't believe that that worked.

"Thank you God." Kaitlin replied.

"That was scary." Marissa commented.

"Scary?" I retorted. "No, scary is finding you passed in alley barely breathing. Scary is seeing you get behind the wheel drunk. Scary is seeing you throw your life away. This is the life that I left behind and I am not getting involved in it again."

We went to Jimmy's house and Kaitlin went to her room and came down with a bag in her hand.

"What are you doing?" Marissa asked.

"I stood up for you." Kaitlin declared. "But maybe Mom was right. Maybe you do need to be committed. All I wanted from this party was to have a great time and you took that away from me. Tell Dad that I'm moving back in with Mom."

In the morning, we walked into the kitchen where Rose was. Kaitlin had spent the night in the pool house.

"So how was your night? I noticed that you two had a little sleepover." She asked.

"Marissa got drunk and I'm moving back in with my mom." Kaitlin explained. "Not to mention we got pulled over while Marissa had an open bottle of vodka. If I hadn't been able to sweet talk the cop, we'd probably be in jail."

"This is a Chrismukkah miracle." Rose remarked. "Before, you would have gotten busted, but you had Jesus and Moses protecting you."

"Is she drunk too?" Kaitlin asked.

"No, this is her when she's normal." I answered.

"My faith has been restored." Rose said as she walked away.

Later that day, I was in Dr. Carter's office for my appointment. I noticed Marissa across from me. I couldn't believe she was at the same therapist office as me. I wasn't going to talk to her but I was going to tell Dr. Carter all about what happened.

"Hey." The girl next to her declared. "What are you in for?"

"My parents sent me here." Marissa answered. "I'm Marissa."

"Olivia. Olivia Trask." The girl said.

So that was Chrismukkah, things between Kaitlin and Marissa are pretty bad right now. Olivia is played by Chloe Bridges. It was hard to cast because I had to find someone incredibly loathesome. I was originally going to have Oliver played by Logan Paul before I found her and remembered how much I hated her. Please don't forget to review.


	13. The Countdown

Kaitlin and I arrived home after a date. It felt like forever since we had been on a regular date. It was also a lot easier to go out with her living next door again because I didn't have to worry about keeping her out too late.

"So why did we go to a showing of _Titanic?"_ Kaitlin asked.

"I've never seen it before." I answered. "I thought seeing Kate Winslet naked would be more interesting than it was."

"She's an okay actress, but her body really isn't all that great." Kaitlin agreed. "I think you have bigger boobs than her."

"So, there's only one more day left in this year." I reminded her. "We need to come up with our plans."

"Well we need to make sure that Marissa stays sober." She pointed out.

"I know that, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun." I declared. "I would say it's been a pretty good year."

"Yeah, if you take the divorces, bankruptcy and drug overdoses out." Kaitlin quipped. "I did meet this amazing girl and I did get my first job, so I guess that balances out."

"And I've had a great year because of the brunette that lives next and the people that live in this house." I remarked.

"So, what do you wanna do?" She asked me.

"Let's decide in the morning." I suggested. "I wouldn't mind a normal party for a change. I'd prefer it if nothing happened."

"So, does Rose have any idea which girl she's going to choose?" She questioned.

"We haven't really talked about it. I've been trying to tune out her rambling." I explained. "She does talk about them a lot."

"I love you." She declared. I was a bit surprised by that. I knew I was supposed to say it back to her. For some reason, I couldn't form the words in my mouth.

"Me too." I replied. She stared at me.

"I don't need you to say it right now." She declared.

"I do feel the same, but I just can't say the words." I told her. At that point, Julie turned on the lights and I realized that she needed to go. Kaitlin went inside of her house. At least I didn't say something stupid like 'Thank you.'. I did love her. I just couldn't say it to her. I then walked into the pool house and sighed.

"I love you. Why can't I say it to her?" I asked myself aloud.

"Saying it is easy. Meaning it is something different entirely." A woman with curly blonde hair wearing one of my tanks and panties interrupted. What the fuck? "Who are you?"

"Long story, who the fuck are you?" I questioned. How did she get in?

"It doesn't work like that, Babe." She said. "This is my pool house."

"Actually, it's my pool house." I argued with authority. I was still very confused by the situation.

"I guess this is yours then." She declared before putting on a seductive tone. "Do you want it back?"

"I'm good." I replied with a blush. What was it that made adult women want to hit on me so much? It was at that point that something clicked in my head. "You're Kirsten's sister, Hailey, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised that she remembers that I exist." Hailey commented.

"She didn't say that you would be here." I replied.

"She doesn't know I'm here." She said. "We can talk about this in the morning. I hear that the couch is comfortable."

She then gave me a pillow and pushed me out. I couldn't believe that I just got kicked out of my own room.

That morning, Rose woke me on the couch. I didn't even have time to put my nightgown on and had to use water instead of makeup remover, so I probably looked like a mess.

"Did you get drunk last night?" She asked. I had only been drunk once since I got here.

"No, your aunt kicked me out of the pool house." I explained.

"Hailey's here? Awesome!" She declared before she ran out of the kitchen before I could get a word in. I sighed as Sandy and Kirsten entered the kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Kirsten inquired.

"Did you not notice Rhiannon sleeping on the couch?" Rose asked her parents.

"Why is she here?" Kirsten inquired as I leaned over the sink. I didn't like being seen without makeup, even though I knew that I didn't look like a boy.

"Either she's run out of money, or she's run out of money." Sandy answered.

"Hey guys, look who's back." Hailey declared as she entered the kitchen in the same state of dress.

"Sandy, robe now." Kirsten commanded as he wrapped his robe around her. For some reason, it was okay for him to be in his underwear.

"Happy New Year, everyone!" Hailey shouted.

"We would have picked you up from wherever you were." Kirsten said.

"Yeah, it was late, and my phone got shut off." Hailey answered. It seemed like she was out of money. How was she out of money? Her dad was rich.

"So you're going to be staying with us for some time?" Kirsten asked. Hailey just shrugged. "I'm going to make up the guest room. Bedding, sheets, now."

"Married 17 years and the first thing to go is complete sentences." Sandy quipped as he got up and gave Hailey a hug. "Welcome back."

"So looks like you're not my nephew anymore." Hailey remarked.

"Yeah, estrogen happened." Rose answered. I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't in the pool house taking a shower or at least putting on makeup. "I have boobs now."

"So, who's the new friend?" Hailey asked like I wasn't even there.

"That's actually your new niece, Rhiannon." Rose explained. "It's a long story."

"So, it's New Year's Eve. Any boys you want to kiss?" Hailey questioned. I wasn't sure why people thought that just because you're transgender, you also like boys.

"Girls, actually, and yes there's two of them." Rose replied. "But I'll probably do whatever Rhiannon and Kaitlin do."

"Kaitlin. I know that name. She lives next door, right?" Hailey questioned. Rose nodded. "It sounds like they won't be doing anything because of three words that Rhiannon couldn't say."

"You weren't there. You have no idea what's going on." I replied defensively.

"Wait, did Kaitlin say that she loved you?" Rose asked. I nodded. "What did you say?"

"Me too." I responded as Hailey giggled. "It's not like I don't love her. I just had a little bit of trouble saying it."

"And you probably don't want me around." Rose responded. "It looks like it's Seacrest and the ball dropping…those are two things that shouldn't be said in the same sentence."

"Well I'm going to take a shower in the pool house." I announced. I then looked at Hailey. "All of your stuff better be gone before I get out."

After I was done, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel and saw that Kaitlin was there.

"You're in a towel." She stated.

"I think you should leave because I don't want you to see anything." I declared.

"I don't care what you have between your legs, Rhiannon." She told me.

"Well I do," I argued.

"I actually came to tell you that Marissa got invited to a party tonight and said that we could come." She explained as I grabbed a floral dress and leggings.

"I thought we didn't get invited to parties anymore." I remarked from the bathroom.

"It's this girl she met in therapy." Kaitlin explained. "It's at the Four Seasons."

"I guess we don't have plans." I replied as she finished putting my underwear on. "But should we really go to her place if Marissa met her in therapy?"

"You go to therapy." She pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's different, I have to see a therapist as part of my treatment." I argued.

"Marissa hasn't talked to me since I moved out. Did you have another idea?" She questioned as I came out wearing the clothes.

"Are you mad because I didn't say…those words I didn't say?" I asked.

"Well I do think that, no pressure, if you could say them tonight, it would super-romantic." She remarked. That did put a lot of pressure on me. She then took a seat on my couch. "So, what's new?"

"My never-before-seen aunt showed up last night." I replied. "She kicked me out of here."

"I really want to go to this party." She said. "How about we do this tonight and you can pick our next date?"

"Fine." I agreed. "But if she's a serial killer, we're leaving. Also, I'm bringing Rose along."

That night, I went to see if Rose was ready. I was wearing the same outfit with a pair of black flats and a black ruffled jacket.

She seemed to be looking for her shoes. She wasn't even a girl that had a lot of shoes. How hard could it to find the right ones?

"Is there anything you two need?" Kirsten asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Rhiannon needs a time machine to go back and tell Kaitlin that she loves her." Rose joked. Kirsten then left.

"It's not a big deal. I'm gonna tell her tonight." I declared. I really hoped that I would.

"What are you two doing here?" Hailey asked. "You shouldn't be here."

That was not suspicious at all.

"We were about to leave, but Rose can't find her shoes." I told her.

"Then take some of mine." Hailey replied. She really wanted us to leave. I was starting to get more suspicious.

"I just remembered that I left them in the bathroom." Rose declared. She went and put them on before I opened the door and saw a bunch of rowdy people. Well, it looked like my aunt was a troublemaker. I didn't think that I would be able to leave. I would also need to lock the pool house to keep drunk idiots out.

"What do we do?" I asked Rose as I noticed some drunk guys skinny-dipping in the pool.

"We can't leave Hailey here. The place will get trashed. She's insane." Rose replied.

Why was it that trouble always seemed to find me? I tried really hard to be a good person and I was pretty sure that I was, but it seemed like there was always drama wherever I went. You know I couldn't help but think that Hailey was like a grown-up version of Marissa or at least whatever Marissa turn into if she didn't get her act together. I still didn't know how Hailey could be out of money. Did her dad not give her any?

"Tell her that she can't have the party." I suggested.

"I don't want to be the mom here." She responded. "Telling my aunt she can't have a party is embarrassing."

"You share blood with her." I argued.

"Yeah, but Cohens are notorious for avoiding conflict, while Atwoods love it." She stated. I then took out my student ID.

"Rhiannon Cohen." I read. "Fuck it. I'll tell her so we can get out of here."

However, I decided that I should call Kaitlin first and let her know where I was. It was the right thing to do in case she was worried.

"So, a party kind of broke out at my house because of my crazy aunt." I told her. "I don't know how to tell her to stop."

"Is that really your problem?" Kaitlin questioned. "This party is really nice."

"I don't want to leave and not have a place to come back to." I pointed out.

"Do you want me to drive over there and help you?' She asked.

"I don't think you should be driving." I said. She wouldn't have an excuse if she got stopped again. "Though, while you're still on the line, there's something I want to tell you."

"It works better if you say it in person." She cut me off. "I can come in a cab if you want me to."

"Just let me tell Hailey the party's over and I'll be right there." I promised before I hung up.

I went upstairs and heard Hailey talking about how she owed some chick three grand. So, not only was she somehow out of money, but she was also in debt. It sounded like things were getting really heated in there. I would have to do something fast. She then walked out of the room.

"I think you need to send these people home." I told her.

"I don't care what you think." She said.

"Well maybe the cops will." I threatened.

"So, what, now you're a narc?" Hailey asked. "How about we talk about this?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I declared. "I have a date with my girlfriend who I want to tell I love, but instead I'm stuck here babysitting you. Now I want the naked people out of the pool and everyone out of the house before I call the cops. I'll give you thirty seconds to get rid of them."

"I can't get them to leave." She said. "I can't just get these people to clear out, not that I even want them to."

"Okay, then you leave me no choice." I declared as I took out my phone. I wasn't actually going to call the cops because that could leave to Rose or I getting in trouble. I decided to call Kaitlin.

"Yes?" Kaitlin asked. For once, I left speaker off.

"Hello, Newport PD." She said. She was probably confused. "I'd like to report a disturbance. My aunt is throwing a wild party at my house and I need you to get her to stop."

"Tell her that they'll be there in 15 minutes." Kaitlin declared before she hung up.

"You've got 15 minutes to get these people out of here before the cops show up." I told her.

"You bitch." Hailey said to me. "You don't even belong here."

"Your sister thinks otherwise." I argued. "She and Sandy adopted me. My last name is Cohen and most importantly, I live here. Now get these people out of my house."

It felt good to be able to assert my authority over someone. I hoped she would buy it.

"Okay, everyone, party's over!" Hailey shouted. "The cops are coming."

That got them to get dressed and go away in a hurry. I couldn't help but think that Hailey's friends were giant morons. I was glad that she bought it.

"How is it that you can be so little fun?" Hailey asked as the doorbell rang. I opened it and there was Kaitlin. It was too bad that she didn't have a police officer costume. She was, however, wearing a long-sleeved emerald sequin dress with tights and black heels.

"It's good to see you, Officer." I told her with a smirk before hugging her. I looked at Hailey as her mouth hung open.

"What's this about the cops being here?" Rose asked as she reappeared. Where had she gone?

"I called this hot officer instead." I explained. "Rose, I need you to stay here. Keep her away from all phones. I think Hailey should get the chance to see the ball drop."

"I'm pretty sure that you're actually becoming my sister." Rose commented.

"Kaitlin, before we go, there's something I need to tell you." I declared. She looked at me and so did Rose and Hailey. I wasn't expecting to do it in front of an audience. "I…love you. Wait, that didn't come out right. What I meant to say was…"

She cut me off with a kiss. If there wasn't an audience, I would have put my tongue down her throat, but there was.

"I heard you and that will definitely do." She said. "I want to go back to this party already. This Olivia girl is transgender like you and she's nice even though she's kind of shady. She does seem like she's a little too into Marissa for someone that she hasn't known for very long."

I went to the cab and got in the back with Kaitlin. The benefit of living with Julie was more money.

"Has Marissa talked to her about it yet?" I questioned.

"I don't think she sees it the way that I do." Kaitlin responded. "Marissa is not good at reading in between the lines. It took her three weeks to figure out that Luke liked her and I don't know how long she was friends with Holly before they started dating."

I wasn't sure if anyone knew when Marissa started dating Holly. No one had ever really told us about that.

"I still don't know don't think she should trust some girl that she met in therapy." I commented as I closed the screen. "I mean just because she's transgender doesn't mean that she wasn't there for something else."

"Well we probably should give her the benefit of the doubt." Kaitlin suggested. "I mean you haven't even met her."

"Well this isn't the best night for me to give people the benefit of the doubt." I pointed out. "I guess you could be right though and she could be a perfectly normal person. So do you have money to pay the driver?"

"I was hoping you did." She declared.

"You're lucky I do." I replied. "You know maybe we should try working somewhere else. You're kind of low on funds right now."

"I think that's going to change soon." She said. "My mom is probably going to marry Caleb and we'll be rich again."

"I wouldn't count it." I replied. She frowned at me. "Look, I'm saying that it won't happen, but you shouldn't prepare for something and not have a backup plan in case it doesn't happen."

It was then the car stopped. We were at the hotel. Vicki was outside.

"So, do you know where Rose is right now?" She asked.

"She's at home." I declared as I paid the driver. "She's babysitting our crazy aunt who nearly wrecked the place."

At that point, Vicki left in her car.

"Well, it looks like she's going to choose for her." I replied.

"We should probably go in there." Kaitlin stated. "It's almost midnight and we need to kiss."

"You know I don't see what's so important about kissing at midnight." I remarked. "I get that it's kind of romantic, but since when are we people who try to fit in and follow trends?"

"Alright, we won't kiss at midnight." She agreed. "But that doesn't mean that we're not going to kiss. We can kiss at 12:02. Now let's party while there are five minutes left in this year."

"There you are." Marissa said as she met us by the elevator.

"I couldn't think of anything I would rather do than spend New Year's with a bunch of people that I don't know." I commented. "You know it's nice to see that you're not drunk for a change."

"It's nice to be sober for a change." She said. "Now I want to introduce you to Olivia."

At that moment, people started to count the new year. They were probably preparing to kiss.

It started to rain confetti on us. I had to say that it was annoying. I couldn't believe that all these people were conforming and kissing at midnight. It was very annoying to be honest. I kept an eye on the clock. Most of them were done by 12:01, but we needed to wait another minute for ours.

"Happy Late New Year." Kaitlin declared before we proceeded to make out.

"I love you." I stated. I smiled. I actually said it how I wanted to.

"I love you too." She reciprocated. "Now let's go to the pool house."

So, not a lot of Marissa in this chapter, but there is Hailey. She's played by Amber Heard, who actually did play a bit part on the show. Please don't forget to review.


	14. The Third Wheel

I walked into the kitchen to see Sandy looking for a bagel which Hailey was eating. I grabbed some orange juice only to find that there was about 2 ounces left. Rose came in looking for the Arts section of the paper, only to find that Hailey was reading it. Were things always like that when relatives visited? I really wasn't sure because I had never had to deal with it growing up. I could tell that it was annoying. Did she not think to ask if she could finish things off? She also seemed like she was kind of a mooch.

"She's eating us out of house and home." Sandy complained after she left the room.

"Sandy, it's just a bagel." Kirsten told her husband.

"Mom, for someone who basically spent the few 16 years of her life indoors, I can say that woman never leaves the house." Rose remarked.

"That's because her friends all want to kick her ass." I stated before I noticed Kirsten glaring. "Sorry."

"I wanna kick her ass." Sandy declared. He probably shouldn't have said that.

"Kirsten, there's no more coffee. Will you make some more?" Hailey whined from the other room. Did she not know how to make coffee? I knew how to make coffee. Granted, I worked as a waitress, but I knew how to make coffee before that. Sandy was whispering no repeatedly.

"I'll talk to her." Kirsten promised before she walked out of the kitchen.

"I guess I'll have to survive on English muffins." Sandy muttered.

I then went into the pool house and began to get ready for school. Winter break was over and we were about to start a new semester.

"Kaitlin? Kaitlin, where are you? Rose asked as she walked into the pool house. "She has to be here somewhere."

"You're hilarious." I deadpanned.

"Well Hailey is always in the living room and Kaitlin is always in here." She stated. "What happened to sister time? That was quality time."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I inquired.

"Vicki and I made out with each other and there was some touching involved." She explained. "She said that she'll be able to have sex soon."

"Wait, I didn't know Vicki had already had her operation." I remarked. Maybe I shouldn't have skipped those meetings so much.

"Yeah, she had it had in October. I need some advice about sex with a girl." She remarked. "I also need to figure out how to tell Summer that we're dating. I don't want to hurt her…or her to hurt me."

At that point, Kaitlin walked into the pool house. I gave her a quick kiss.

"Summer's not going to hurt you unless you do something to make her angry." Kaitlin declared as she grabbed my hand.

"We should go." I added.

"We need to talk about this later." Rose stated.

"Look, Vicki's probably as nervous as you are. She's never done it as a girl. You shouldn't stress so much about it." I said.

"Vicki has a…" Kaitlin remarked before I covered her mouth.

"That was a private conversation." Rose declared.

"Are you sure that you're not trying to convince yourself to be with Vicki because you don't know if you like her or Summer more?" I questioned.

"So what do you wanna do tonight?" Kaitlin asked me as we went out to Rose's car. I was about to get my license soon. I wouldn't be able to drive to school because they didn't allow freshmen to get parking passes, but I would be able to drive other places. I would just have to figure out what kind of car I wanted.

"Do we have to do something tonight?" I questioned. "We don't have to spend every night together. Maybe you should do something with Marissa?"

"Can we get back to talking about me?" Rose requested.

"You have to make sure she's nice and wet." Kaitlin stated as I blushed.

"Okay, thanks for the advice." Rose replied, also blushing.

Once we were at school, we separated from Rose.

"So, are you really okay with me spending the night with Marissa?" She questioned. It seemed like she didn't really want to do it.

"I think we should both spend time with our siblings." I told her. "Do you not want to spend time with Marissa?"

"Well we haven't really talked that much since Christmas." She admitted.

"That's why it's a good time to bury the hatchet" I proposed. "You don't want to become like Kirsten and Hailey."

You know I could even see Marissa mooching off of us years down the line after we were married.

"Which one would I be?" She asked curiously.

"Well, you would obviously be Kirsten since you're the more responsible one." I explained. "But I don't want to compare you to someone who's my mom in everything but blood."

After school, I noticed Holly was standing outside by her Jeep. We hadn't talked in a while.

"How's it going?" I questioned.

"Someone slashed my tire." She explained. I supposed that people didn't like that she was the daughter of a sex offender.

"Do you know how to change it?" I questioned. "I could teach you."

"I have a spare in the back." She stated as I looked in the back.

"Hey, Holly, I could help with that." A guy replied as he passed by. "I love it when a girl bends over."

"Do you think I deserve this for all those years of being a bitch?" She asked as I took out the jack I got on my knees and showed her how to work it. I wished that I hadn't been wearing a skirt.

"That's subjective." I remarked.

"Well my New Year's resolution was to fall in love." She stated as I started to remove the nuts.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" I questioned.

"Absolutely." She declared before we headed back to the pool house and began to play a game of Madden. I liked how they put a story mode in the game even if it didn't have enough football.

"Who plays PS4 for the sports game?" Rose asked me.

"Some people actually like sports." Holly pointed out.

"I thought it was going to be just us tonight." Rose replied. "We need to talk about my problem."

"What's your problem? Are you upset about the new ban list in Yu-Gi-Oh?" She questioned.

"Yes, Firewall Dragon is used by the main character in the anime and it shouldn't be banned." Rose stated. "But I'm more trying to figure out how to have sex for the first time."

"Well you have to know how to properly satisfy a girl." Holly stated. "Do you want to know how?"

"Are you offering to teach me?" Rose rebutted.

"Well it would be a hands-off experience, but I might be able to." Holly stated. I then paused the game and took her into the bathroom with me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm not offering to have sex with her, even if she is kind of sexy in a nerdy way." Holly explained.

"Well she is in a complicated relationship with girls and we don't need to muck it up further with her falling for you as well." I explained.

"So, you're telling me I can't date your sister. I guess we are friends now." She remarked.

At that point, my phone rang. It was Kaitlin. I pushed Holly out of the bathroom so we could talk in private.

"Hey, how's Marissa?" I asked her.

"With Olivia." She stated. "Apparently she wasn't on board with the whole hanging out with siblings thing."

"Oh yeah, eat it, Cohen." Holly shouted.

"Are you hanging out with Holly?" She asked.

"Are you hanging out with Holly?" She inquired.

"Yeah, she kind of had a bad day at school." I pointed out. "Some douche slashed her tire."

So it ended up with us meeting up with Olivia, Marissa and Kaitlin at the Four Seasons. I supposed group stuff was different than couple stuff. She had some food.

"Is there any silverware?" Rose asked as Holly decided to dig in.

"Moroccans eat with their hands." Olivia answered. She then looked at Marissa and flirtatiously asked. "How's the couscous?"

I'd heard of that before. It was nicknamed 'the food so nice, they named it twice'. I went and took a bite of it and it was good.

"It's pretty good." I replied. It turned out that I was not eating couscous, but some other dish that I couldn't spell.

"It's so cool that you live in a penthouse." Rose told her.

"Yeah, it's always been my fantasy to live in a hotel." Marissa added. Were they both _Suite Life_ fans?

"It seems like a good way to become spoiled." I commented.

"It's more lonely because my parents travel so much." Olivia explained.

"Well, if you ever need company, just give me a call." Rose remarked. Something just seemed really off about her. I couldn't place it though.

"They're in Paris opening a new hotel." Olivia declared. Everyone then started to talk about Paris. It seemed like they had all been. "Have you ever been to Paris, Rhiannon?"

"No." I answered. "I've heard good things about the Louvre."

She told me that the Louvre sucked. She also talked about snowboarding in the Alps. There was something really off about her.

"Where's the bathroom?" Kaitlin asked.

"It's down the hall to the right." Olivia explained. She then grabbed me and took me to the bathroom with her. I was a little confused. "I don't trust this girl."

"She seems a little shady, but she did grow up in the wrong body." I pointed out.

We then went back into the living and found that Olivia had gotten us tickets to a concert, She then the band somehow.

"Okay, maybe you're right," I whispered.

The next morning, Rose was back to talking about Summer and Vicki.

"I need to figure out how to tell Summer." She stated. "I call text her."

"That would be effective and would prevent her from hitting you." I opined before I bit into my French toast.

"Or maybe I could have Vicki tell her." She suggested. "That way, I can focus on seeing Hey Violet tonight."

"I saw Hey Violet open for 5 Seconds of Summer last year." Hailey interjected.

"We're seeing them tonight." Rose explained.

"I thought it was sold out." The blonde replied.

"It is, but we know a girl." Rose told her. "Olivia."

"You mean that creep Rhiannon was talking about before bed last night?" Hailey asked. I couldn't believe that she was eavesdropping on me. "If she has a girlfriend, where is she?"

"I don't know." I answered as Hailey poured some cereal.

"Mind if I finish the cornflakes?" She asked before she went off to do so.

"Well, at least she asked." Rose stated.

Later, I was in the pool house getting ready for the show. I was trying to look edgy, so I wore a leather jacket with a black and white striped tee with denim shorts and tights. I even put pink streaks in my hair. Kaitlin wore a leather jacket with a black tee, tartan miniskirt, tights and a chain necklace. I was applying some extra eyeliner.

"You look so hot." She commented.

"So, do you know if Marissa's met Olivia's girlfriend." I asked.

"I don't think she has." Kaitlin replied. "I'm starting to wonder if she even exists."

"We maybe we can just ignore that and focus on meeting Hey Violet." I suggested.

She then gave me one hell of a kiss. If we didn't have to worry about being late, it probably would have gone further.

"Tonight, we'll have fun." I promised her.

"We don't have to dance, do we?" She questioned.

"No, but I'm sure there'll be some songs we can slow-dance to." I declared.

We went to the concert and everyone was there…but Olivia. To make matters worse, she wasn't on the list. We decided to go out into the parking lot and there she was.

"I thought I said back door." She declared. At that point, we saw the band.

"Which one is Violet?" Holly asked. I was glad that no one else heard that or there could have been blood.

"They all are and it's Hey Violet." I corrected.

I was surprised that Olivia managed to pull through. Also, Rena was so much hotter in person. We all then went in. I heard Marissa outside ask about Natalie. It seemed that she wasn't there. She offered to be the girl's date instead.

"So, our relationship is now more faux-incestuous." Kaitlin told me. "My dad is dating your aunt."

"This night keeps getting weirder and weirder." I muttered. Hopefully, it would still rock.

I had never been backstage to anything before. One thing that I learned was that Holly played guitar. Rose and Vicki were trying to figure out how to tell Summer that they were dating. I also noticed that most of the fans seemed to be girls. I supposed girls could be groupies too.

"So here we are." Kaitlin told me. "So, should we come up with a plan?"

"A plan for what?" I inquired.

"To tell Marissa that we think Olivia is bad news." She said.

"Kaitlin, we don't have any proof and we can't do anything without it." I replied. "Maybe you're wrong about her."

"Fine." She agreed. "But I'm not sharing you with Holly."

"It's not as bad as the triangle of doom over there." I commented.

We then went out to the concert and it was a lot of fun. I also found it was a bad idea to give Holly Red Bull.

"This place is awesome!" She shouted. "Are you having as much fun as I am?"

"Well it's not exactly bad." Kaitlin remarked. I then rubbed her back and started to sing along to the song to calm her. "How do you such a great voice? I'm going to make you serenade me sometime."

We ended up slow dancing to a song called "O.D.D.". It was a bit of a strange song to dance to, but I liked it. I was hoping to get Kaitlin's mind off of stressing about Olivia. I even took a little bit of time to feel her up while no one was looking. I hoped it would be a good distraction. I also noticed Holly had surrounded herself with some older girls and felt the need to separate her from them.

"We should go grab Marissa." Kaitlin replied. I sighed before the two of us took out front.

"Hey, we're missing the show." Marissa complained. "I thought you two wanted to hang out with friends."

"You've known Olivia for two weeks. She's not much of a friend." Kaitlin pointed out.

"She's trying to stay clean." Marissa argued. "You don't know what she's going through."

"I know some of what she is going through." I reminded her.

"And we don't need to know the rest." Kaitlin added.

"Why don't you two just go home if you don't want to be here?" Marissa spat before she went back inside. Who said we didn't want to be there?

"I guess we'll grab Holly and tell her that we need to go then." Kaitlin replied. I couldn't believe that Marissa had to ruin the concert for me. It seemed like she had a habit of ruining things.

We then went out back and saw that Olivia was getting hassled by some guy. I was about to try to break it up when he showed me a badge.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"This girl just tried to buy three grams of coke from me." He explained. So much for getting clean.

"Don't tell anyone." Olivia pleaded as she was dragged away.

"Okay, so maybe you're right." I told Kaitlin. "So now what do we do?"

"I think we shouldn't tell Marissa about this." She said. "We'll just tell her that we had to go home."

I then went to the bar where Rose was struggling to get the bartender's attention. I greeted him which got him to look at me.

"How do you do that?" She asked. I pointed to my hair. Guys seemed to prefer blondes. I then ordered a Pepsi. "So Vicki is telling Summer that we are together. I am officially dating Vicki now."

I decided to call Sandy to see if he knew what to do. I knew that going to the police station was a good idea. I took a cab there and told Rose to take Kaitlin home. Sandy came by and talked to the cops. I waited in the waiting room. I wasn't sure why I was doing it. I barely even knew the girl and I did want to be right. I probably I just didn't want Marissa to get hurt. I then noticed him coming out.

"Well?" I questioned.

"They're going to let her go." He answered as he took a seat next to me.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"I'm just that good." He boasted. "And I used to play poker with these guys."

"Thanks for doing this, even though I'm not sure if this is a good idea." I admitted.

"Is she a friend of yours?" He asked. That was where things got a little bit complicated.

"She's a friend of Marissa's." I replied. "They met in therapy. She said that she had been clean for a while, but I guess that's not true. You don't have to stay. I will get her home."

When I got back to the house, I noticed that Kaitlin was there. I thought Rose would understand that I meant HER house.

"Does your mom not know you're staying over or just not care?" I inquired.

"I'm not staying over. I did want to say Marissa said thanks." She replied.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay over?" I asked as I began to kiss her.

"Oh, wow, kissing." Rose interrupted. I looked and noticed that she had Summer and Vicki with her. She was definitely my older sister. "We were all gonna hang out."

"Hey, what are we doing?" Holly asked. "What are we doing?"

"She's had too many Red Bulls." Rose explained. I already knew that.

"You two can go back to making out." Summer replied before everyone left the room.

"I think the moment has been ruined." I said. We then saw Rose and Holly were playing Yu-Gi-Oh

"Rhi, it's your turn." Holly said as Rose handed me her deck. We had a lot of fun.

So, a few different things happened in this episode. The main thing was Olivia causing trouble, but also Marissa. Please don't forget to review.


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